The mystery of the Melrose Place stalker
by DanimalBr
Summary: Set in season 3, after the episode "Breakfast at Tiffany's, Dinner at Eight," this 2 part mystery deals with a murder plot on one of the tenants, and several people are suspect.  Can you solve the mystery, and figure out who the culprit is?
1. Short fuses

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Melrose Place or any of the characters involved in this story.**

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><p><strong>Author: DanimalBr<strong>

**Authors Note: This story takes place in season 3 of the original series Melrose Place, and follows the events of "Breakfast at Tiffany's, Dinner at Eight," basically taking the place of the episodes that followed. This is a multi-part mystery/suspense episode that is basically a "Who done it?" story meant to leave the reader guessing. **

**Recap from the previous episode: Michael and Amanda flew to New York to see a top notch doctor in the desperate hopes of getting Amanda on a ground breaking new treatment program to cure her Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Kimberly, who is insanely jealous of the time Michael has been spending with Amanda, tries to sabotage the attempt by phoning the New York doctor and lying about Michael's real motivations. Despite this, Michael successfully convinces the doctor to allow Amanda into the program, causing Michael & Amanda to grow closer and ultimately sleep together. Billy & Allison are left to hold down the fort at D&D, where one of Amanda's major accounts (Franklin Cruiselines) is threatened when the owner is unhappy with their latest ad campaign. Despite Allison's attempt to play on the sympathies of the owner by revealing Amanda's illness, they lose the client. Jake and Jane had rescued Sydney from the wacky cult that she had been in. Despite promises from Ricki that the cult would be back for Sydney, nothing had been heard from them as of yet. Jane talked Jake into rehiring Sydney at Shooters, and Sydney has become jealous of the time Jake and Jane are now spending together. While on a police ride along, Jo had taken some pictures of a police detective named John Rawlings brutally beating a criminal. The criminal wound up dying due to internal injuries from the beating. Matt turned the photos into the police. When Rawlings found out about it, he broke into Matt's apartment and held him and Jo at gunpoint, but the two were able to fend him off and have Rawlings arrested. **

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><p>A tired and jet lagged Michael walks up to the front door of his beach house. Dressed in his dark coat, pants, and tie, he enters the house not knowing if Kimberly is on rounds today or not. He opens the door and finds Kimberly sitting on the sofa, dressed in her all white bath robe.<p>

"Welcome home, sweetheart. Did you enjoy yourself in New York?" she says.

Kimberly's shallow smile and sarcastic tone serve only to make Michael angry.

"Why no Kimberly, I didn't. And to be honest, you had a hell of a lot to do with that." Michael replied.

Kimberly lets out a smug little chuckle accompanied by a devilish smile "What's the matter, Michael? You couldn't get Dr. Steele to take on Amanda as a new patient? I told you before you left that you were wasting your time. You should have listened to me before you flew 3000 miles across the country. You can't say I didn't tell you so." says Kimberly with a smile who is seemingly revelling in Amanda's misfortune.

Michael looks at Kimberly with pure malice and contempt. He is totally appalled and sickened that his wife would do such a thing over a simple fit of jealousy. "Kimberly, you are the most disgusting and despicable person on this planet. Just looking at you and hearing your voice makes me sick right now. Do you have any idea what you put Amanda and I through when you called her and lied about her being terminal?"

"Oh please, do tell." Kimberly replies.

He slowly walks toward her. Dropping his suitcase by the kitchen counter, he keeps his eyes deadlocked on hers, he forcefully grabs her by the arm and lifts her up off the sofa and begins to yell.

"She ran off and walked the street for 12 hours, all night, scared and alone. 12 hours of hell, she was thinking about how she was going to live out her final days. She didn't tell me she was leaving, and I had no idea where she was. You caused that poor woman, who has never done a damn thing to hurt you I might add, more mental and emotional stress for those 12 hours then most people will ever experience in their entire life. Something she should have never had to go through. And when she finally got back, I had to practically twist her arm off to get her to trust me." shouts Michael.

Kimberly, who is completely unshaken by Michael grabbing her arm, just laughs at him. "Should I start the violin music now, dear?" taunts Kimberly. "So once again, like I said, you made the 8 hour trip for nothing. And you gave Amanda false hope, just like I said you would. Don't take your anger out on me because you're an idiot."

Michael looks at Kimberly and begins to grin. He's been waiting for just the right moment to say what he's about to say. "Oh, see that's where you're wrong. It wasn't for nothing. You see, Doctor Steele accepted Amanda into his new program. So I'm afraid your little sabotage operation was entirely unsuccessful. Better luck next time." taunts Michael as he pats Kimberly on the head.

Kimberly's smile turns into an evil scowl and her voice becomes shrivelled and hostile. "That is a damn lie."

"I'm afraid not. I got her new protocol agenda right here, along with Dr. Steele's signature of approval." he replies.

"No." says Kimberly, refusing to believe Michael.

"Kimberly, aren't you glad that Amanda's going to be okay? Aren't you happy that she now has such a great chance to make a full and complete recovery and live a long and healthy life? I mean isn't that what all those years of med school were for, for moments like this?" suggests Michael knowing full well how Kimberly will react.

Kimberly shakes her head and stares blankly ahead. "You are such a malicious bastard, Michael." she says

"Really? Saving a friend's life is now a qualification for being a malicious bastard? I guess I better update my resume then." says a disgusted Michael. "You know, I've done a lot of bad things in my life, and I'll never be the poster boy for high character. But even I would never stoop to doing something this disgusting and underhanded. You make me sick and the fact that I call you my wife makes me want to vomit." he retorts.

Kimberly pulls her arm away from his hand forcefully. "Who the hell do you think you are, Michael? Thanks to you I'm a walking barren freak for the rest of my life. You crushed all my hopes and dreams a long time ago, and you have the audacity to stand here and lecture me? YOU GO TO HELL!" she screams with a wild eyed look.

"No Kimberly. That's where you are headed, not me. You see, nothing you ever do from this point on is ever going to make up for what you tried to do to her. I can see why you tried to run me over. Hell, I deserved it. But Amanda? What did she ever do to you to justify such a heinous act of evil?" he shouts angrily at her.

Kimberly looks at Michael as if she's about to freak out and go into one of her rage attacks. "Well for one thing, she's trying to steal my husband away from me. What do you expect me to do, Michael? Am I just supposed to stand idly by while she sinks her hooks deeper and deeper into you every day? I mean, look at you. You run off to hold her hand every chance you can get, going to her apartment in the middle of the night to play nurse maid, flying across the country with her, sharing a hotel room with her, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if you slept with her. Well what about me, Michael? I am your wife, damn it."

Michael cuts Kimberly off. "Correction, Kimberly. You were my wife. I'm moving out and I want a divorce. This marriage, this whole sick twisted freak show is over. And I want out while I still have a shred of dignity left in me."

"Oh please. What is dignity to you, Michael? You don't give a damn about dignity. You just want me out of the picture to clear the way for you to get into Amanda's pants. Don't try to fool me, Michael. I know exactly how you operate. You seem to forget that I know you better than anybody, including yourself." she says with a wide eyed, crazy look.

"Well congratulations, I guess you earned your masters degree in Michael Mancini 101. Why don't you try something a little more useful like learning how to be a doctor again and save people's lives instead of trying to end them over some ridiculous jealousy thing you have going on in your head? I've had it with you, Kim. It is over. You hear me?" Michael grabs his suitcase from off the floor and walks back out the front door, turning around to look at Kimberly once more. "OVER!" he screams really loud once again as he slams the door behind him.

Kimberly just looks at the door wickedly and speaks to him after he's left. "Oh no, Michael. It's not over. It's only just begun" she says with the evil intent heard in her voice and seen in her eyes.

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><p>Amanda is determined to show no weakness or signs of her illness. She lives by the philosophy that rest is for the weak minded. Despite her being put on a new ground breaking chemo program, her body's fight against cancer is taking its physical toll on her, leaving her tired and fatigued all the time. But as determined as ever, she took no time to rest and instead came straight to D&amp;D advertising from the airport only to find that Billy and Allison had not been completely truthful with her about how things were running while she was away.<p>

With authority, Amanda presses the intercom button on her phone and in her firm and no non-sense voice her words fly through the system to the phone on Allison's desk. "Billy, Allison, my office now."

Billy and Allison walk into Amanda's office, closing the door behind them. They don't even have to ask what this is all about. Billy looks on while Allison smiles and tries to be polite. "Amanda, did you come here straight from the airport? You must be exhausted; you should take some time to rest."

"Cut the pleasantries, Allison, and let's cut right to the chase. You know if I didn't need the help so bad I'd have half a mind to demote you two to lunch room assistant faster than you can say incompetent screw up."

Billy tries to speak up but is cut off.

Amanda looks at them both with a look of hostility on her face. "Franklin Cruiselines was my account. I brought them in and I built our relationship with them. Just who in the hell authorized you two to pitch them a new ad campaign?"

Allison replies back trying to calm the situation. "Amanda, Franklin said he wanted a new ad campaign or they were going to pull their account. We pulled an all nighter trying to come up with a new campaign that we thought he'd like."

"And you apparently did a less than adequate job of it. He hated the pitch. Not to mention you did it behind my back and with no authority." retorts Amanda. "You should have known he was looking to appeal to middle class America, not the lifestyles of the filthy rich."

"We had no background on him, Amanda. You have his entire account information." replies Allison.

"Right, because nobody but me was suppose to deal with him." she says.

Billy, who has been trying to remain calm, jumps in. "Look Amanda, we did the best we could. You told us not to call you and we had no information on Franklin's account, and we don't know him like you do. We did the best we could with what we had to work with."

Amanda suddenly grabs her head and looks down as if she's about to pass out. The disease combined with the stress is getting to her. "Are you alright?" asks Allison.

"Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry about me, I start my new chemo treatment today. Look, leave Franklin Cruiselines to me. Just don't let this happen again. Now go on, get out of here." says Amanda.

Billy and Allison leave, both looking back, concerned for Amanda's health. Amanda starts to pull herself together when the phone rings.

"Amanda Woodward" she answers.

On the other end of the phone she hears nothing but breathing for about 5 seconds, then she hears a cold wicked voice as if it came straight from hell itself

"Welcome home, Amanda. Did you have fun in the big apple?"

Amanda pauses for a second, but realizes who the voice on the other end is.

"What do you want, Kimberly? And make it quick, I'm very busy."

Kimberly snarls then lays into Amanda. "Don't you take that tone with me you terminal blood sucking wench. I ought to rip your heart out with my bare hands for what you've done to me. I don't give a damn how sick and pathetic you are. Michael just walked out on me this morning, all thanks to you and your pathetic messed up nothing of a life."

Surprised by Kimberly's statement, Amanda is unable to come back with a witty retort. "Wait, are you saying Michael left you?"

"Don't act so shocked. Hell you probably convinced him to do it, didn't you? He moved out this morning and told me he wants a divorce. Apparently he'd rather play nurse maid to your terminally ill ass then spend time with his wife. Now maybe he got you on Dr. Steele's treatment program, but know this, Amanda. When I get done with you, you'll be down on your hands and knees praying that your lymphoma takes your life, because the pain you have from your illness won't be even a grain of sand compared to the hell that I'm going to unleash into your life. Every single time you go to work, come home, or go to sleep you are going to have to be looking over your shoulder wondering when I'm going to appear and hammer a nail straight into your throat. Pleasant dreams, bitch"

Kimberly slams the phone down in anger and then in a fit of rage grabs a framed picture of her and Michael that's been sitting on the bedside table and throws it down repeatedly on the kitchen counter shattering the glass. She then unleashes a maniacal scream at the top of her lungs and begins to throw dishes around the house in a borderline insanity temper tantrum.

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><p>Jake is working behind the bar at Shooters. It is lunch hour and the bar is only partially full. Sydney walks over to the bar to get a drink order as Jake rings up a customer's tab.<p>

"Hey Syd, you think you could cover the bar for about an hour? I'm meeting up with Jane for lunch."

Sydney pauses for a moment and responds to Jake "That's the third day in a row you've gone out with my sister. Things must me getting pretty serious."

Jake responds to Sydney with impatience in his voice. "Can you cover the bar or not, Sydney? That's all I need to know."

"Sure Jake, whatever. Just go and have your little fling with Jane. Us unimportant people will stay here and make sure everything runs smoothly."

"That's all I ask." he replies, trying to avoid a scene.

Jane walks in just before things can intensify and goes over to where Jake and Sydney are talking. "Hey Jane, I'll be ready in a few minutes. Just let me finish up in the office." says Jake.

Jake goes into the manager's office. As Sydney wipes down the bar with a rag, she makes a sarcastic remark to Jane.

"So Jane, are you going on another date with my boyfriend?"

"Syd, number one Jake's not your boyfriend. Number two, we're just going to lunch. And number three; I don't see how any of this is your business.

Syd throws the rag behind the bar and looks Jane in the eye. "Look Jane, there are a few million guys in L.A. Why do you have to go after the one that I happen to love with all my heart?"

Jane looks bewilderedly at Sydney. "Oh give me a break, Sydney. You have a new love of your life every month and it always happens to be whoever I'm seeing. First it was Michael, then Chris, and now Jake? You know what? I'm not having this thirteen year old conversation with you. I have no intention of not seeing Jake just because you have some crazy fantasy in your head. And if you have a problem with it, that's just too damn bad. Now why don't you try going out and making some new friends?"

"I tried that, Jane. With Ricki and Martin, remember? You saw where that got me." answers Sydney

Jane replies back "Well I'm sorry, Syd. But your social life or lack there of, is not my problem."

Jake walks out of the office with his leather jacket on. He shoots Sydney a look but doesn't say anything, and walks out with Jane. Sydney stares long and hard at them as they leave, then goes about the business of tending to the bar.

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><p>Amanda sits in a hospital chair in a Wilshire Memorial room. As she is on the phone, trying to arrange a lunch meeting with the owner of Franklin Cruiselines, Michael begins to check the IV that she is hooked up too. After Amanda hangs up the phone, Michael begins to talk to her.<p>

"Alright Amanda, another 20 minutes and we'll be done for today. Now you're going to feel a little more tired than usual today. Your body's just adjusting to the new medication we have you on. Don't worry, it's a perfectly normal reaction. But you're probably going to want to go home and take a nap after this."

Amanda looks up at Michael, feeling too weak to put up much of an aggressive argument but stating her case. "That's totally out of the question, Michael. While you and I were in New York, Billy and Allison were running D&D into the ground with their incompetence. If I'm out of the office anymore than I already am, the whole place is going to go up in flames."

Michael looks at her with frustration. "Fine. I'm too tired to argue with you. But just so you know, those instructions are coming from Dr. Steele himself. So you might want to pay them a little more attention." Michael rubs the sleep out of his eyes. Having only gotten a few hours of sleep on the cot in the staff room, his wear and tear is clearly showing. "I'll be back shortly to check on you."

As Michael begins to walk out of the room to check on other patients, Amanda speaks up. "Michael, wait. We need to talk." she says.

Michael turns around and looks at Amanda. He's not his usual arrogant self but has his head hanging slightly and his demeanour is a little less confident. By her tone he figures that she's going to bring up what happened in New York and say that it can never happen again.

"Look Amanda. I know things got a little out of hand in New York. It was an emotionally exhausting trip and it took its toll on both of us. But like I told you, from here on out I'll do everything by the book. You have my word." he replies.

"No Michael, it's not that. I got a call from Kimberly this morning." she says.

"She called you?" he replies. "Well, I can take a wild guess as to what she said. Look, I'm sorry Amanda. We had a huge fight this morning when I came home and I walked out on her. I guess she is blaming you for it." he says in an apologetic tone. "But don't worry. Kimberly is my problem, not yours. And I'll make sure she doesn't bother you anymore."

"She told me that you told her you are going to file for divorce." Amanda pauses for a moment. "Is this true?"

Michael contemplates his answer for a second and then replies. "Yes Amanda, it's true. We've been having our problems for a while now. She didn't talk to me for weeks after I returned Jo's baby. Then she started becoming jealous because of all the time I had been spending with you. But what she did to you in New York when she tried to make you believe you were terminally ill just crossed the line with me. I'm done with her. We're finished for good."

Amanda shakes her head. "Oh, this is just great. I have cancer while my company is falling down around my ears. The last thing I need if for your psycho wife to blame me for breaking up you two's marriage.

"Uhm, that's soon to be ex-wife, Amanda. But you're dead on about the psycho part." he replies.

"Whatever. Just leave me out of it." she demands.

Michael rubs Amanda's arm to comfort her. "You will be left out of it, I guarantee it. Look, just leave Kimberly to me. You worry about getting well. Now if you'll excuse me I got other patients to attend to. And I also have to find a new place to live. Maybe Matt will let me stay with him for awhile." he says.

Amanda seriously contemplates what she is about to say next but she soon hears herself blurt it out. "I have a better idea. Why don't you come and stay with me?"

Michael looks at her. Inside he is grinning because secretly this is exactly what he wants. But he's taken by total surprise as he did not expect this.

"Are you nuts? If you thought Kimberly was psycho this morning, just what in pray tell do you think she'll do if she finds out that you and I are living together. Don't get me wrong. I'm grateful for the offer, Amanda. But I know how this woman works. The more stuff you give her to fuel her insanity, the more wacko she becomes." As Michael says one thing, he totally means another. While what he's saying is true, he hopes Amanda will ignore it and extend the offer to him anyways.

"Michael, listen to me." says Amanda in a sincere tone. "First of all, I'm not afraid of Kimberly. Secondly, I know you and I have butted heads on more than one occasion. And I've also made a lot of derogatory remarks about you."

"Mhm. Most of which were true." says Michael jokingly to which Amanda lets out a slight giggle.

"But the truth is that nobody in my entire life has ever been there the way that you've been there for me throughout this nightmare. I mean you fought against my attitude the entire way, and you literally made me do what I had to do to get well. That night when I walked the street in New York, it gave me so much time to think about how differently I would do things if I could just get another shot." says Amanda.

Michael looks at her puzzled. "Meaning what exactly? Amanda, before I start unpacking my bags at your place, I would kind of like to know where you and I stand, on both a professional and personal level."

Amanda's facial expression shows agitation, as she is not prepared to do such heavy thinking at this moment. "I don't know, Michael. Professionally, I want you to stay my doctor. Personally, I can't really make any kind of a long term commitment right now, not until I'm well. I may want a relationship with you after this is done, and then again I may not. I can't think about that. What I can say is that I've been living in a very dark and scary place 24/7 since this all began. And the only time I've been able to get out of that place has been when you've been with me. Now you need a place to live, and I need somebody around me to make me feel better. So, it's the perfect solution. Let's think of it as a short term commitment. We'll deal with the rest later, after I'm well." she says.

"Well, hospitality like this from Amanda Woodward isn't something that comes around all that often. How can I say no? I'll be by tonight with a few of my things. I'll get the rest of my stuff out of the beach house later." says a smiling Michael.

"Great. Now if you'll excuse me, I got another business call to make." replies Amanda.

"Alright, but keep it to a minimum." Michael leaves and as he closes the door he pumps his fist as if he just hit the jackpot. His wish has just been granted.

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><p>At Jo's apartment upstairs, she and Matt are having dinner together. For the first time in several weeks Jo is finally feeling a sense of relief and relaxation. It is a simple meal consisting of takeout Chinese food, but it's Jo's way of thanking him for helping her handle the bad situation with Detective John Rawlings..<p>

"Jo, don't get me wrong. I appreciate you buying me dinner and all, but this really wasn't necessary. I mean, we're friends and friends help each other out. But heck, you would have done the same for me" says Matt as he eats some sesame chicken.

"Don't be silly, Matt. I wanted to do this. Between that psycho Kimberly stealing my baby, the mess with the Carters, getting shot in the back, going through another child custody hearing, and finally Detective Rawlings, this is the first time in months I've actually been able to be calm and enjoy myself with a friend. And I can't tell you how grateful I am to have a friend like you." Jo says as she smiles.

"Well, that goes both ways." replies Matt.

At that moment, the phone rings. Jo goes to answer it, thinking it's about a photo shoot schedule, and her cheerful mood quickly changes when she realizes who the voice on the other end is.

"Jo, this is Detective Wilkins from internal affairs."

Jo's smile quickly turns to a look of worry. She has always been very insightful and has a gift of reading people. She knew right away that a call from the man who helped put Rawlings away could not be good. "Um good evening detective, what can I do for you?" she replies.

"Jo I have some bad news. John Rawlings was released yesterday."

"What? How?" she asks in a quiet and fearful voice. Matt immediately puts his chop sticks down when he hears the frightened tone in Jo's voice.

"The photos you took of the beating got misplaced. And without them, the judge at the preliminary hearing said there wasn't enough evidence to take the case to trial." replies the detective.

"What are you talking about not enough evidence? This man beat another man to death, and then turned around and held up my friend and me at gunpoint. How much more evidence do you need to show that he's a psycho?" shouts Jo.

There is a long pause then Detective Wilkins begins to speak again. "He's been fired from the police force. But Jo, we have reason to believe that he may try to come after you. Now we will dispatch extra patrol units to your neighborhood and we'll be on the look out for him, but you need to take extra caution. Lock your doors and don't go out alone at night. Do you understand?" says the detective over the phone.

"Yes I understand" says Jo back after a couple of seconds. She's barely able to speak. She turns around and looks at Matt with a blank look of fear in her face. Matt is anxious to hear what is wrong.

"Be careful, and if you hear or see anything suspicious at all, call us right away."

Jo hangs up the phone without saying goodbye. She looks right at Matt. "What is it?" says Matt.

"Matt, John has been released. His files got misplaced and the judge declared there wasn't enough evidence for the case to go to trial and threw it out. And now he might come after us again." says Jo.

"Oh my god" says Matt in a tone of disbelief.

"Matt, what are we going to do? I'm so scared. He's going to come after me again, I just know it. I'm so tired of always living in fear. Will this ever stop?" cries Jo.

Jo begins to cry uncontrollably. Matt walks up to her and gives her a hug to comfort her.

Meanwhile outside, we see the faint shadow of a human figure dressed in all black. With black boots, pants, and a black trench coat the character is obviously dressed to blend into the night. This character is also wearing a black hood and a black mask with two small eye holes cut out, so that you can't see the identity of the person. The character, who we can't tell if it is male or female, is right outside Jo's window which has been open just a crack and the character has been listening in on the entire conversation between Matt and Jo.

Jo begins to walk over to the window to close it and the blinds. As she does, the character quickly hops out of sight. After the blinds are closed, the character grabs a pick from his/her trench coat pocket, and carefully picks the lock open on Sydney's apartment, which is right next to Jo's. The character disappears into the darkness of Sydney's apartment.

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><p>A bit later, Jake and Jane have returned from a nice date. Jake comments about what a great time he had, and Jane smiles and invites him into her apartment for a drink. At that time Sydney walks into the courtyard, coming home from her night shift at Shooters and sees the two together.<p>

"Well, isn't this a lovely scene?" remarks Sydney sarcastically.

Jane looks at Sydney and rolls her eyes while Jake just glances at her and ignores her comment. Jake and Jane go into her apartment and shut the door. "Oh by the way, Jake, everything went great at Shooters." she yells at the door.

Inside Jane's apartment, Jane turns the lights down low and puts on some soft music. "So you want to sit down?" Jane asks Jake.

"I thought you'd never ask." he says softly.

Jake and Jane sit down on the couch. There is a smile exchanged between the two and they both lean in for a passionate kiss. Jane lies back on the couch pulling Jake on top of her as he begins to move his hands down her neck and to the back of her thigh. Sydney sees the entire make out session happen from the window she shakes her head in disgust.

Sydney heads upstairs to her apartment; where the black hooded stalker is hiding in her closet. Sydney walks in, counts her tip money and puts her mail on the counter. She starts heating up a microwave dinner and then sees that she has a message on her answering machine. "Well yay for me, first message I've had all week." she says.

Sydney is extremely unhappy about her current social status in the apartment building as it always seems that everyone looks down at her. She feels that her troubles over the past year have permanently scared her in the eyes of everyone else there, especially Jake who she's been longing to rekindle their relationship. But Jake has been giving Sydney the cold shoulder ever since going to Las Vegas and finding her in Chris Marchette's hotel room wearing a designer dress and a diamond necklace, then learning that she slept with him, even though it was to protect Jake.

She hits the play button. While Sydney starts drinking a cup of tea, she coughs and chokes up her tea when she hears the voice on the machine.

"Hello Sydney. Remember me? It's Ricki. See, I told you that we'd be back for you. You didn't think that Martin would forget about one of our family, did you? We sure have missed you, Syd. But we'll all be together again real soon. In fact, a lot sooner than you think." The sound of Martin laughing in the background can be heard as Sydney shrieks and covers her hand over her mouth.

"Oh my god. They're coming back for me." she says out loud. Sydney runs out of her apartment and down stairs to see Jake and Jane.

As soon as Sydney runs out, the unidentified black hooded stalker emerges from the closet, and goes over to Sydney's answering machine and deletes Ricki's message off of it. The stalker then tips toes out the door very lightly and quickly runs into the shadow of the top balcony and out of sight from plain view.

Meanwhile Sydney is banging on Jane's door loudly. Jake and Jane break from making out on the couch and sit up. Upon Sydney's knocking, Jane is visibly irritated and gets up and opens the door angrily. Jake follows behind her.

"Sydney, I swear to god you better get over this petty jealousy thing you have going on. Because you are really starting to piss me off." she tells Sydney angrily, getting right up in her face.

"Ricki and Martin are back. Ricki left a message on my machine. She says that they are coming back to get me." says Sydney trying to be convincing.

Jake looks like he might believe it, though as usual Jane doesn't believe a word that comes out of Sydney's mouth. "Oh give me a break, Sydney. I can see what you are trying to do here. You have a problem with Jake and I seeing each other and you'll do anything to stop it. Well it won't work. Goodbye." says Jane to Sydney.

Jane tries to slam the door in Sydney's face, but Jake stops it and holds it open. "Wait a second. This is the same Ricki who trashed my bar?" says Jake.

"Yes Jake, and the same Martin who kidnapped me and locked me in a hole in the ground in the desert all night. Come on, I'll play it for you, and you'll see that I'm telling the truth." replies Sydney.

Sydney grabs Jakes hand and starts to pull him upstairs. Jake pulls his hand away from Sydney's but continues to follow her. Jane follows behind them, angry and disgusted that her evening plans with Jake have been ruined by what she feels is another tall tale of Sydney's.

As Sydney, Jake, and Jane go into Sydney's apartment, they don't see the stalker who has managed to stay perfectly hidden in the dark shadows of the night time courtyard. While the three are in the apartment, the stalker quickly scans the rest of the courtyard to see if anybody else is coming, then jumps from the upstairs balcony down to the courtyard and quickly runs over to the laundry room for concealment and to spy on the happenings at Melrose Place.

In Sydney's place she goes to play Ricki's message but gets the mechanical voice saying "You have no new messages."

Jane gets right up in Sydney's face. "Ha, I knew it. There is no message. You just wanted to break up my date with Jake, didn't you?"

Sydney replies "Jane, I swear to god there was a message on here just two minutes ago. It was from Ricki saying that she and Martin were coming back for me. That must mean that….." Sydney looks up at them in fear. "Oh my god, somebody was in here with me. I mean they were in my apartment just now."

Jane just snickers and shakes her head. "Yeah right, Syd. Somebody was in my apartment with me too just now. That is until a certain jealous sister had to come around with another one of the lies."

Jake just looks aggravated at Sydney then back over at Jane. "Come on Jane, lets get back to your place."

Jane is mad at Jake for believing Sydney after she told him it was a lie. "Forget it, Jake. I know the twelve year old game she's playing, and you're falling for it hook, line, and sinker. And I have no interest in dating somebody who's going to run off to be Sydney's knight in shining armor every time she cries wolf. So forget it, I don't want to see you anymore. Goodnight."

Jane angrily walks back downstairs to her apartment and slams the door. Jake follows her trying to make amends. "Jane, wait."

Sydney follows Jake out and grabs him on the shoulder. "Jake, I swear to god there was a message on there. Honest. Somebody was in my apartment. It was probably Rikki. She still has a key. You have to believe me."

Jake turns around and removes Sydney's hand from his shoulder. Reaching a near boiling point of frustration, he speaks to her in a gruff tone. "Sydney, you pull another stunt like this again and you can start looking for another job."

Jake goes downstairs and slams the door on his apartment. Sydney watches him, upset that nobody believes her, but even more concerned over the prospect that somebody was in her apartment. She finally goes back into her place and shuts the door. The hooded stalker peeks around the corner of the laundry room, having seen the entire incident. Could it be Rikki or Martin returning for Sydney?

* * *

><p>As everyone empties back into their own apartment, we see Michael enter the courtyard with a couple of suitcases in both hands as he makes his way up to Amanda's apartment. The unidentified stalker stays out of sight, but watches Michael climb up the stairs to apartment #4. Michael knocks on the door and Amanda lets him in. Michael closes the door behind him, but he doesn't notice that the door doesn't click all the way shut. The stalker sneaks up the stairs quietly and nudges the door open just a hair, then climbs up onto the roof above Amanda's door and out of sight, trying to listen to what's going on inside Amanda'a apartment with her and Michael.<p>

Amanda is in her black and pink bathrobe and is lying on the couch covered up in a heavy blanket. She has a box of tissues on the stand. "You'll forgive me if I'm not that chatty tonight. I feel so tired and weak." she says to Michael.

"I understand. Like I said, your body is just adjusting to these new drugs. You might have a few more nights like this, but it's to be expected. Once your body begins to adjust, we'll begin the second half of the chemo program with a different set of drugs that should target the cancer cells directly." says Michael as he sits on the edge of the couch and rubs puts his hands on Amanda's hips for comfort.

"Please spare me your medical babble, doctor. I'm not in the mood." she replies back to him.

"Okay, how about if I make you some dinner then. I'll make my famous Veal Scaloppini to thank you for your gracious hospitality." he says in a cheerful voice in an attempt to lighten Amanda's mood.

"No Michael, I don't want to eat. I'm too tired." she replies.

"Amanda, I know you're not going to feel like eating but it's important you do. And besides, I owe you."

Amanda looks at Michael straight in the eye. "You don't owe me a thing. But if you really want to do me a favor, there is one thing you can do for me." Michael raises his head to ask what it is. "You can go to bed with me."

Michael suppresses his elated feelings over the prospect of sex with Amanda and puts on a humble front. "Amanda, I thought we agreed that what happened in New York was…."

She cuts him off. "Get your mind out of the gutter. I wasn't talking about sex."

"Oh?" replies Michael with a blank look, unsure of how to react.

"I want you to sleep with me, just lie there next to me. Between fighting this cancer, the stress of my job, and now Kimberly, it's so much for me to deal with. A few weeks ago when you came over that night I was sick as a dog, it made me feel better when you held me. I fell right to sleep. And I've been having so much trouble sleeping lately. And I think that it would really help me to rest if you were there. So please, Michael, can you do this for me?" asks Amanda.

Michael just nods his head. "Well then, let's get you to bed. You need the rest."

As Michael walks to turn out the living room light he knocks a yellow envelope off the counter.

"Hey careful, that's my entry form for the Century advertiser of the year award." says Amanda.

Michael picks the envelope back up and puts it back on the counter. "Think you'll win?"

"I sure as hell better. That award means everything to me, and they've been overlooking me for years. According to a source of mine, I got a real good shot this year. I just have to get it to the committee by tomorrow." she replies

Michael turns out all the lights and then picks Amanda up in his arms and carries her off to the bedroom. He lays Amanda down on the bed gently and takes off her robe to where she's down to her pyjamas. He then takes off all his clothes except for a pair of boxer shorts and crawls into bed with Amanda and puts his arms around her. A sick and exhausted Amanda falls right to sleep. Michael just lies there awake with a gleeful grin on his face, relishing every minute of it.

The lights go out in Amanda's apartment. Meanwhile, the black hooded stalker has been lying on the roof right outside listening to every word. The stalker opens the door slightly and sticks a small piece of tape on the door to prevent it from closing all the way.

The stalker then sneaks into the apartment, which is dark. The stalker looks at the yellow envelope on the counter containing Amanda's entry form, and continues down the hall. Taking a small black box out of the black trench coat it's wearing, the stalker creeps over to a potted plant on a stand right outside of Amanda's bedroom. The stalker places the box inside the dish of the plant. It appears to be a transmitter of some kind.

While making his/her way to the front door to exit, the stalker bumps into the coffee table and knocks over an empty glass that Amanda had sitting on it. Michael, who is still awake, hears the noise and sits up. The stalker sets the glass back up and hurries out the door, forgetting about the tape that was left on the door to keep it open. The stalker leaps over the railing and jumps down Amanda's steps and crawls under Allison's window on the way out of the courtyard. Before leaving the complex, the stalker takes a look inside Matt's apartment window, and then takes off into the night. Michael has gotten up out of bed and has gone to the living room to check out the noise, but by that time the black hooded stalker is long gone. Michael looks out Amanda's window down at the courtyard below at the lit pool lights reflecting off the complex but sees nothing suspicious. He returns to the bedroom and goes back to sleep with Amanda.

Meanwhile, we see the stalker out on the street ducking low and making sure that he/she isn't seen by any passing cars or pedestrians. After walking past a car of one of the tenants, the stalker pulls out a pair of car keys and begins to key their car door.

* * *

><p>Later that night, Sydney is fast asleep in her bed. She's tossing and turning, clearly having a bad dream. In her dream, Ricki and Martin are holding her at gun point and forcing her back into the box in the ground again. And just as they are about to slam the door on it, she gets startled awake by a ringing phone.<p>

Wondering who could be calling her at 2 in the morning, she rolls over on her side and picks up the phone groggily. "Hello?"

"Hi there, Syd. What's the matter? Can't sleep? Are you feeling a little lonely tonight?" Sydney instantly recognizes the voice on the other end of the phone as Ricki.

"Ricki? What the hell are you doing calling me at 2 in the morning. As a matter of fact what are you doing calling me at all?" replies Sydney.

"We miss you, Syd. And we're worried about you. You must be getting awfully lonely there in the big city all by yourself." says Ricki in a seductive devilish voice.

"I'm not lonely. I have plenty of friends here. Powerful friends. And they're going to clean your clock if you keep bothering me like this." says Sydney trying to be tough, but the fear in her voice is obviously shining through.

"Friends? Oh please, Syd. What friends are you talking about? Your sister, Jane? Jake? They both think your crazy and don't believe anything you say. And nobody else in that whole building likes you, and you know it. See if you had stuck with us, Sydney, you could have gotten Jake back by now. But as it is, he's getting fed up with you and you're just one aggravation away from being fired from Shooters and going back to the crazy house." says Ricki.

"How do you know I'm working at Shooters again?" Sydney asks.

"Oh we've been keeping our eye on you. See, the retreat is over. We're back here in L.A." says Ricki.

"So it was you, wasn't it? You were in my apartment today, weren't you?" says Sydney.

"Syd, I swear I don't know what you're talking about. I just need to get my stuff out of your apartment. Unless of course, you still want me as your roommate that is?" asks Ricki.

Syd has grown impatient with this phone conversation and starts talking very fast and panicky. "Not in a million years. I would rather pull a threes company with Freddy Krueger and Jason then live with you ever again. Now listen, I will box up your things and you can come by Shooters tomorrow at 8 to get it."

"Shooters?" asks Ricki.

"Yeah that's right, Shooters. A bar with people around, including Jake, that way you and your psycho cult leader can't try to kidnap me again. Come get your stuff thre or I'm throwing every last bit of it in the trash. Got it?" says Sydney aggressively.

"Syd, I'm your friend. You shouldn't lash out at your friends like this." replies Ricki.

"You are not my friend, Ricki. I don't need you or want you in my life at all. Just come and get your things tomorrow and then stay the hell out of my life forever and that goes for Martin and all your fellow freakazoid cult members as well." Sydney slams the phone down after saying this.

Both angry and frightened at the same time, Sydney gets up and goes and looks out her window, but sees nothing but the courtyard below. No sign of anybody, including the stalker. She wishes she could go down and stay with Jake or Jane. But as usual, Jane is angry with her. And Jake would only get aggravated about being woken up at 2 in the morning and would probably suspect Sydney of making the whole thing up. Nobody else there cares enough about her to let her stay with them. Sydney realizes she is totally alone with this problem. She locks the dead bolt on her apartment door, fastens the chain, then shuts the blind and tries her best to go back to sleep.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Jo walks out of her apartment to head to an early morning photo shoot. As she comes down the stairs, she is met in the courtyard by Matt, who approaches her and begins to speak softly so that nobody else can hear except Jo.<p>

"Hey Jo, did anything strange happen in your apartment last night after I left?" asks Matt.

"Well besides me being scared as hell and barely able to sleep over my fear that the psycho cop John would burst through my door at anytime? Other than that everything was just fantastic. How about you?" asks Jo in a sarcastic but friendly manner.

"You mean you didn't get any weird phone calls or have anything unusual happen?" asks Matt again.

"No" replies Jo. "Why? Did you?"

"Well nothing hard or concrete. But last night, three different times I had somebody call me and not say anything. All I heard was breathing on the other end. I don't know. It could just be some teenagers playing a practical joke" says Matt.

"And it could be John trying to frighten you, or should I say us. And if it is, he's doing a pretty damn good job of it." replies Jo.

At that moment, Jake opens the door to his apartment to get his morning paper and he sees Jo and Matt talking. Jake can instantly tell by the look on Jo's face that something is wrong. He always could read Jo like a book.

"Good morning. Is everything all right?" asks Jake to Matt and Jo.

Jane walks out of her apartment at that moment, dressed in her work clothes, and heads off to work. She says good morning to Matt and Jo, but walks right by Jake without saying anything. Jake says good morning but receives no reply as Jane just walks out. "Have a nice day, Jane." he shouts as she walks out of the courtyard.

"What was that all about?" asks Matt.

"Never mind." replies Jake. "Jo, something is wrong and I can see it in your face. Now are you going to tell me or am I going to have to pry it out of you?"

"Jake, trust me. For your own good, it's best you stay out of it. I don't want you to wind up getting hurt." says Jo.

Jake begins to speak, but is interrupted by Matt. "John was released yesterday when the court couldn't find enough evidence to take him to trial."

Jake replies "I see. And John is?"

"He is the cop who I took pictures of brutally beating a criminal when I was on a ride along with him. The criminal died and Matt took the pictures to the police. He blamed us for him getting fired, broke into Matt's apartment, and held us up last week at gunpoint. He got arrested but is now back on the street again. You happy now, Jake?" replies Jo in annoyed voice to Jake.

"What do you mean there's no evidence to take it to trial? He held you at gunpoint and the pictures that Jo took is solid proof the guy is a loon. There's no way any jury would let him walk." asks Jake.

"The pictures got misplaced. And the prosecution didn't want to bring Jo in as a witness because she has an arrest record for possession of a firearm. So basically it would have been my word against his. Add to that, John has a really good record of bringing in wanted criminals and the judge ruled that the case wouldn't go to trial." explains Matt.

"So he walks free, just like that?" asks Jake. "Jo, why didn't you tell me?"

"Cause Matt and I didn't want anybody else to get mixed up in this. This guy is dangerous and now Matt's been getting phone calls with somebody dialing and hanging up." she says.

"Look Jake, please don't say anything. We don't want the word of this getting out around the apartment building. It would cause a panic." says Matt.

"Alright, fine. But I'm going to make sure that you aren't alone for a minute, Jo. And it starts right now with me walking you to your car." says Jake who continues to be extremely over protective of Jo.

"So you are going to be my personal escort, Jake? For how long?" asks Jo.

"As long as it takes." he replies.

Matt walks back into his apartment as Jake begins to escort Jo to her car. At that moment, Sydney walks out of her apartment and yells downstairs to Jake. "Jake, I really need to talk to you."

"Not now, Sydney. I have to do something for Jo. I'll see you at work." replies Jake. Sydney just watches Jake and rolls her eyes.

"I could have a serial killer after me and he would rush off to take care of a hang nail for Jo while letting me get hacked to pieces." thinks Sydney to herself.

Jake walks Jo to her car and gives her a friendly kiss on the cheek. "Remember, you call me the second anything suspicious happens. No excuses." he says to her.

Jo smiles back, not saying anything, feeling a little more relieved to have such a wonderful friend like Jake around who cares about her so much. Her relief lasts for all of 10 seconds. When she gets around to her car door she looks down and lets out a loud scream and hollers for Jake, who comes running to her to see what the problem is.

"What is it?" he asks.

Jo points at her car door, where somebody Jo points at her car door, where somebody keyed the words "You're dead bitch" into her door.

"That's it. We're going to the police right now," says Jake in a serious voice. Jo tries to argue but Jake cuts her off. "Jo, I'm not going to argue with you about this, we're going down to the police station right now. Get in, I'll drive."

A shaken Jo agrees and hands Jake her car keys and the two drive off to the police station. As the two ride off, a black car that is parked on the other side of the road has its window down. Ducking in the car seat is the hooded stalker, whose identity is still concealed. The stalker has been parked there with the window rolled down and has been listening to the entire conversation with Jake and Jo. When the stalker sees that Jake and Jo have driven off, he/she pulls out a yellow envelope as well as a miniature radio receiver and begins to adjust the frequency.

* * *

><p>In Amanda's apartment, Michael is dressed and ready for work while Amanda, who for once enjoyed a good night's sleep, is still resting. Michael is in the kitchen making breakfast for her, when he sees the door to the apartment creep open slightly. Remembering the noise he heard last night, and suspecting that a jealous Kimberly may be lurking around, Michael quickly goes and hides behind the door as it continues to creep open slowly. Slowly, he sees a hand come through the opening in the door. Determined to nail the intruder, Michael grabs the wrist below the hand and pulls the person inside to see who it is.<p>

He breathes a sigh of relief upon seeing it is nobody threatening. "Sydney?" he says.

"Michael, what are you doing here?" asks Sydney.

"I'm making Amanda breakfast, what does it look like? And what are you doing breaking into her apartment? I ought to call the cops and have you arrested." he says back to her.

"I'm not breaking in, Michael. The door was already open. Look here." Sydney shows Michael the piece of tape in the doorway that's preventing the door from closing all the way. Michael rips off the tape, looks at it and throws it down on the ground, immediately suspecting that Kimberly had likely broken into Amanda's apartment the previous night, but he keeps it to himself and doesn't say anything.

Michael lets go of Sydney's wrist and returns to the kitchen to finish making breakfast. Sydney follows him in. "So you're living with Amanda, now? And making her breakfast too? I guess you got it bad for her. You know, the entire time we were married, you never once made me breakfast."

"And there's a good reason for that. You see, I happen to like Amanda and enjoy her company. You I will never like. And I sure as hell don't enjoy your company. Does that make sense?" says Michael.

"Well even so, it would have still been nice to have been made a little breakfast once in a while." she replies

"You're right, Syd. Here, let me make that up to you right now. How about a nice hot plate of 'shut the hell up' and an ice cold glass of 'get lost' to wash it down?" replies a coarse Michael as he puts an omelette and a piece of toast on a plate and pours a glass of orange juice for Amanda.

Sydney looks at him with a smirk. "So is this thing with Amanda another one of your secret affairs on the side or does your wicked witch of a wife know about it yet?" says Sydney in one of her humorously sarcastic voices.

"If you're referring to Kimberly, she's my soon to be ex-wife. Not that it's any of your damn business. Now, is there some reason you're not turning around and walking back out the door?" Michael asks, obviously annoyed and irritated that Sydney is still in his presence.

"I need to talk to Amanda." Sydney replies.

"Well, now's not a good time. You'll just have to come back later." Michael begins to forcefully escort Sydney out when Amanda walks out from the bedroom in her robe.

"It's alright, Michael." she says and walks over to Sydney. Michael just looks at Sydney with aversion and returns to the kitchen.

"What can I do for you, Sydney? And make it snappy, I have a busy morning ahead of me. See unlike you, I don't have time to poke my nose around in other people's business." says Amanda in a crass voice.

"Amanda, I want the locks changed on my apartment." she says.

"You know my policy. You can have the locks changed if you'd like. But you pay the locksmith fee and I get a copy of the key. Will there be anything else?" says Amanda wanting Sydney to leave.

"Yes, I think, no wait, I know that somebody broke into my apartment last night. And I'm 99.9 percent sure it was Ricki or Martin. Can we have them barred from the building? God only knows what they were doing in there. If it was Martin, he could have been watching me undress or in the shower, or…."

Michael cuts Sydney off. "Syd, do you mind? I'm about to eat here. And picturing you in the shower is killing my appetite."

"No one's talking to you, Michael." replies Sydney.

"Look, Sydney, you never put Ricki's name on the lease. Therefore you have the right to kick her out, but until you do, I have no legal authority to do anything since you gave her a key and invited her to live with you. So you're just going to have to handle this on your own. Just make sure not to get me or any of the other tenants involved in your mess, or trust me, you'll be out of here."

"Well then, so be it. Enjoy your breakfast, Amanda. Try not to choke on it." says Sydney who begins to storm out of Amanda's apartment.

"Oh, Sydney, one more thing." calls out Amanda.

"Yes Amanda?" says Sydney in a condescending tone.

"Your rent is due next Friday. I was lenient last month and gave you a couple extra days. But I'm not feeling quite as good natured this month. So make sure I have it, otherwise pack up your crap and get out of here. Are we clear?" says Amanda.

"Perfectly." says Sydney who turns around and walks out.

Amanda closes the door as Sydney leaves. She sits down and begins eating the breakfast that Michael has made for her.

"How is it?" he asks.

"It's fine. I got a little bit of an appetite this morning, but it's still hard to eat." says Amanda. "Michael, I think I'm still getting worse."

"Amanda, you're not going to see a great deal of improvement until we start you on the new drugs. And we can't do that until you've finished the first part of the treatment. This is why you have to relax and take it easy. But having even a little bit of an appetite is an encouraging sign." assures Michael.

There is a long pause. Michael finishes his breakfast and then gets up. "Listen, I'll be on rounds till this evening, then I have to go pick up the rest of my stuff at the beach house. If you need anything, remember, I'm just a phone call away." he says.

"There is one thing I do need, Michael." she replies. Michael nods his head and listens.

"The Century Advertising Awards are tomorrow night. I think I finally have a shot to win advertiser of the year. I'll need an escort. Would you do the honors?" she asks.

"Amanda, what did I just say about relaxing and taking it easy?" replies Michael.

"Can you do it or not, Michael?" asks Amanda impatiently.

Michael realizing Amanda's not going to listen to him agrees. "Of course I'll be your date. I'm just worried about the way you are pacing yourself." he says looking at his watch. "I have to go." Michael kisses Amanda on the cheek. "Just try not to overwork yourself, okay?"

Amanda just shrugs and Michael begins to walk out as there is a knock on Amanda's door. "If that's Sydney again…." says Amanda.

Michael opens the door, expecting it to be Sydney, but it's Billy and Allison.

"Michael, what are you doing here?" asks Billy.

"I'm just….."

Amanda cuts Michael off. "None of your business. He's helping to take care of me." says Amanda to Billy.

Allison just looks at Michael, knowing his history of moving from one woman to the next. "Yeah, I'll bet he is." she says.

"Well, I'll leave you three to chat. Amanda, I'll see you tonight." says Michael as he walks out the door and closes it behind him. Out in the black car on the street, it is revealed that the stalker is listening in on the conversation going on in Amanda's apartment through the radio. The black box that he/she planted is apparently an outgoing transmitter through which the stalker is now able to listen in on Amanda's apartment.

"Look, I don't know what you two think you saw here, but I guarantee you that it's not what you think it is." says Amanda who is trying to hide the fact that she has grown dependant on Michael for support.

"Hey, whatever is going on with you and Michael is none of our business." replies Billy.

"That's right. And it isn't anybody else's business either. So don't go gossiping around like we're in junior high. No doubt, Sydney's already doing that." says Amanda.

"Look Amanda, we just came up here because we wanted to assure you that…." says Allison who is cut off by Amanda.

"That you tried your best to hold D&D together while I was gone? Yes I know. But how can I put this politely? Your best fell a mile short of what needed to be done." says Amanda as Billy and Allison frown. "Look, I have a meeting with Franklin this morning. I'm pretty sure I can get the account back. So don't worry, even in the condition I'm in, I'm still going to manage to save your little butts." says Amanda.

"Is there anything else we can do for you?" asks Allison, who is growing tired of Amanda's constant put downs.

"Ah yes, there is one thing. And even you can't screw this one up, Allison" says Amanda who goes and grabs a thin yellow envelope that is sitting on her counter. "This is my entry form for the Century Advertiser of the year award. This award is very important to me and word is it that I'm all but a shoe in with the awards committee. I need you to drop it off with the committee sometime today. I'd do it myself but I don't know how long my meeting is going to run. The deadline is today so make sure you get it there. Okay?"

"Hey, you know that you can count on me, Amanda." says Allison.

"I sure hope so. Every time you've said those words to me in the past, I've always lived to regret it." suggests Amanda

Allison takes the envelope and leaves. Billy follows. "See you this afternoon." he says and closes the door behind him.

"Amanda and Michael are living together now? When did this happen?" asks Billy as he and Allison leave and walk away from Amanda's apartment.

"Well, he's a snake. And she's the black widow. If you ask me, they're perfect for each other." retorts Allison.

"Alright, stop it." replies Billy in a monotone voice as he giggles slightly at her remark. Allison looks over grinning back that he laughed at her joke.

"I need to shower and change. I'll see you at work." she says.

"Just remember to turn in that entry form or Amanda's going to kill you." says Billy.

"Right." she replies back

Allison goes into her apartment and puts the yellow envelope on her kitchen table along with some other papers. As Allison goes into the bathroom, takes off her clothes, and gets into the shower, it is revealed that the black hooded stalker has broken into her apartment. The stalker appears from the hallway closet and sneaks into the kitchen where he/she grabs the yellow envelope on the table that contains Amanda's entry form and replaces it with the yellow envelope that he/she had.

Just then, the phone rings and the stalker hears Allison cut the shower off.

The stalker, needing to find a place to hide quickly, tip toes into the living room and hides out of sight behind Allison's couch. Allison comes running out of the shower wearing her blue robe with the moon and stars on the back, hair still dripping wet. She quickly hits the speaker phone button on her phone. Unbeknownst to her, the stalker in her apartment can hear the entire conversation.

"Hello" she answers.

"Allison, it's your sister." says a female voice on the other end of the phone. The stalker listens in on the conversation while at the same time trying to figure out a way to get out of Allison's apartment without being seen or heard.

"Meredith? Hey! It's great to hear from you. How are things going? You sound kind of funny." says Allison with a smile on her face.

"Allison" says Meredith in a sombre voice. "I don't know how to tell you this, but mom's dead."

Allison gapes. "What? How?" she replies.

"Allison, she was murdered. Somebody strangled her in her home." says Meredith.

Allison looks ahead in shock. "How did you find out? Where's dad?" she asks.

"Allison, dad has gone missing. Mom was found dead by the mailman. The police wanted to bring dad in for questioning, but he was no where to be found. They think he may have fled the state. Dad's the prime suspect. They called me this morning to ask some questions about our family history." replies Meredith.

"Oh my god! Meredith, I can't believe this is happening." says an emotional Allison.

"Allison, apparently after you told everyone at the barbeque about what Dad did to us when we were little, the entire town turned on him. He lost his job, and all his friends, and began drinking heavily. It looks like he finally just snapped and killed mom." There is a long pause with Allison left totally speechless. Meredith finally speaks up again. "Allison, since you were the one who ruined him, the police think he may come after you now." says Meredith.

"Oh god, No." says Allison in a dramatic voice.

"Allison, please be careful." she says.

Allison unable to speak just hangs up the phone and begins crying uncontrollably. She runs out of her apartment and upstairs to knock on Billy's door. Billy answers, having just gotten dressed for work, where he sees her crying and asks her what's wrong. As she relays to him what just happened, he leans in and gives her a warm comforting hug.

Meanwhile, the stalker is still down in Allison's apartment and has seen and heard everything. He/she looks out the window and sees Billy and Allison upstairs hugging and realizes he/she can't go out through the front door without being seen.

The stalker then runs to the living room, takes another transmitter out of his/her trench coat and puts it underneath Allison's sofa. The stalker runs to the bathroom, opens up the window and climbs out through the back alley behind the apartment complex.

The stalker takes off and disappears once again having bugged Allison's apartment and replacing the yellow envelope that contained Amanda's entry form, all without anybody knowing.

"Look, you should take the day off and sort some things out." says Billy who is still embracing Allison

"No, it's okay Billy." says Allison who has stopped crying and is starting to get her emotions in check. "I'd feel safer at D&D than I would sitting around here."

"Well at least give me the entry form and I'll turn it in. You don't need that burden." he replies.

"You're right. Thanks Billy. You are my best friend, I hope you know that." she says to him in a soft and whimpering voice.

They go down stairs and Allison grabs the yellow envelope off the kitchen table and gives it to Billy. She then goes into her bedroom and begins to get dressed for work, having failed to see the open window in the bathroom.

* * *

><p>"Look, I'm telling you that we are positive that this detective John Rawlings guy, or whatever his name is, is harassing Jo and Matt. Now can't you do anything about it?" says an angry Jake to Detective Wilkins down at the police station.<p>

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hanson. But a few prank phone calls and a random keying of Ms. Reynolds car does not give us any kind of solid proof that John Rawlings is the one behind it. Before we can dispatch officers to guard you and Mr. Fielding, and put out a warrant for John we need positive proof that he is in the area and is harassing you and your friends." replies Detective Wilkins to Jake and Jo.

"So what are you going to do? Wait until he comes around and kills them before you do anything? This guy held them up at gunpoint just last week, I mean how much more proof do you need?" argues Jake who is growing more impatient with each passing minute.

"Jake, please," says Jo who is trying to calm him down. "Detective Wilkins, what are you going to do?"

"We will put out an all point bulletin and advise our patrollers in your neighbourhood to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. But other than that, there isn't much more we can do." says the detective.

"This is unbelievable," says Jake in disgust.

"Look, you want my advice? Get out of town for a few days, maybe a week. Find someplace low key to hang out and wait to see what happens." The detective hands both Jo and Jake his card. "I will continue to monitor this closely. Call me in a day or two and I will update you on the case and advise you on whether or not I feel that it is safe for you to return," says Detective Wilkins.

"But I can't just drop everything and leave town. I'm in the middle of a huge photo shoot. If I just up and leave with no notice that would hurt my reputation and my chances for getting more work." says Jo.

"And besides, you can't just run away from some creep." replies Jake.

"You can stay if you'd like. It's your choice. But I have to warn you that if it is John Rawlings harassing you, he is going to be a very difficult man to catch. This guy has done all kinds of stakeouts and casing detail. Up until the beating incident, he was one of our best on the force. And he'll know how to elude the police and leave no evidence. And if he does plan to come after you, he'll probably be casing out your apartment complex, waiting for just the right moment to strike." says the detective.

"Oh my god. Do you think so?" asks a panicked Jo.

"Yes. In fact, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he's been in your apartment all ready without you even knowing it. He might have even managed to plant some sort of surveillance equipment in there, like a bug or a radio to listen in on you. So if I were you, I'd think long and hard about leaving town." He says.

Jake and Jo walk out of the police station and begin to talk as they are walking back to their car.

"Jake, what am I going to do? I can't drop this photo shoot, but if I stick around, Rawlings is going to kill Matt and me, maybe you too." cries Jo as she grabs Jake's arm. "Jake, I don't want you getting involved in this. You shouldn't be with me. You shouldn't even be seen talking to me."

"Not a chance, Jo. You think I'm going to leave you to handle this all by yourself? No, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. You are going to stay with me until this whole thing is done. Plus, I'm taking you to and picking you up from your photo shoots. I won't let anything happen to you, I promise." says a comforting Jake.

Jo, realizing that nothing she says is going to keep Jake from being his usual over protective self wraps one arm around his neck and gives him a hug to let him know how much she loves and appreciates him being there for her.

* * *

><p>Billy shows up at the Century Awards building and hands over the yellow envelope to the nominee application committee chairman who takes it and opens it. Billy starts to walk out when the chairman yells out to him.<p>

"Excuse me, sir," yells the chairman. "There is no application in the envelope; it's just a blank piece of paper."

Billy turns around and looks at him funny. "What? You must be joking?"

Billy looks at the paper in the envelope. "It can't be," he says. "What time is the deadline?"

The chairman tells him that all applications for advertiser of the year must be in by 4 p.m. today and that no late entries will be accepted. Billy rushes off to find a pay phone.

Back at D&D, Allison has made her way into work and is sitting at her desk still shaken from the phone call she got earlier. Her phone rings at her desk. "Allison Parker," she answers.

"Allison, it's Amanda. Listen, I can't talk long, so I have to make this short. I'm not going to be in the office today. My meeting with Franklin is running longer than planned. It most likely won't be over till 2 and then I have to go in for another chemo session. So, I'm going to need you and Billy to cover for me again today." says Amanda over the phone.

"Oh, well no problem Amanda," Allison replies.

"You did get my application turned in, right?" asks Amanda.

"Yes. That's all taken care of," answers Allison, figuring Billy has handed in the papers.

"Well, that's good. Listen, I know I've been a little difficult to deal with lately, but I'm counting on you, Allison. I know you can cover things while I'm out of the office. Just don't let me down, alright? And under no circumstances what so ever am I to be disturbed while at this meeting. We need to get Franklin Cruiselines back with D&D so it's vital that nothing else interferes, got it?" says Amanda.

Allison reassures Amanda that everything will be taken care of. After hanging up, Billy calls just a few minutes later.

"Billy, what is it?" asks Allison.

"Allison, where's Amanda? I need to talk to her, it's an emergency. But she's turned her cell phone off," says Billy.

"She just called me and she's going to be out of the office and unavailable the rest of the day." says Allison.

"Well then we got a major problem. You aren't going to believe this, but the envelope that Amanda's entry form was in, well it wasn't in there," he says.

"What do you mean it wasn't in there?" asks Allison in disbelief.

"I mean the application wasn't in the yellow envelope she gave me, it was just a few blank sheets of paper inside," he says. "Allison, we have to get a hold of Amanda. She has to fill out another entry form by 4 o'clock today otherwise she'll miss the deadline."

"We can't do that. Amanda just left explicit instructions that nobody is to disturb her for the rest of the day under any circumstances. Oh god, Billy. Amanda's going to kill me when she finds out. How could the entry form not be there? Did you open it?" she asks.

"No. Not at all. I just handed in the yellow envelope and the application wasn't there. What are you going to do." says Billy.

"I don't know. I don't know! I can't fill out another entry form myself because it needs Amanda's signature on it. Let me think." Allison says in a panicky voice. "Billy hold on, I have another call." she says.

Allison answers the other call and shrieks when she hears a man's voice on the other end of the phone.

"Hello sweetheart," says the man's voice over the phone.

"Dad? Why are you calling here? What did you do to mom?" she says.

"Allison, is that anyway to talk to you father after all this time. I just want you to know I'm coming to visit you real soon. I think it's time we put the past behind us. What do you say?" he says.

"Allison, sweetheart. Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you. I promise you won't feel a thing. I'm just going to make it all better. But I'm afraid that I can't say that same thing about your precious Billy." he continues with an explicit sound of hatred in his voice as he mentions Billy's name

"You aren't my father. You're a monster. Stay away from me and Billy. You hear me? Stay away and don't call me anymore." Allison switches back over to Billy as tears roll down her cheek.

"Billy, that was my father. He says he's coming to see me. And he says he's coming to kill you." says Allison while sobbing.

"Oh my god. Hang on, I'll be right there." says Billy who hangs up the phone and rushes out. Allison gets up and walks off to the ladies room. She thought her father's voice sounded a little more gruff than usual, but it doesn't shake the fact that she knows it was the monster who abused her in the basement when she was a child. It's taken her months to pry those images from her head. And all of a sudden in a flash, they have come back. This has made her totally forget about Amanda's missing entry form.

* * *

><p>At Shooters, Jake is working behind the bar when he trips over a box. "Sydney, will you get this damn box out of here before I break my neck on it."<p>

Sydney grabs the box and puts it outside of Jake's office. "Sorry Jake, it's just Ricki's things. I had to box them up. She's coming here to pick them up tonight."

"You're kidding me, right? Ricki the crazy cult girl is coming here?" Jake asks as Sydney nods. "Sydney, how could you invite here here? Do you remember what she did to this place a few weeks ago? I don't want her within 100 feet of my bar." says a cordial Jake

"Jake, she's just going to get her stuff and leave. And I didn't want her to come to my apartment cause she might bring Martin with her and kidnap me again. So I told her to meet me here where there are other people around and I'd give her stuff to her, but then she was to never bother me again." responds Sydney

"Syd, I don't know about you. You've really been off the handle lately," says Jake

"Jake, I promise that once this whole mess is behind me, we can get back to the way things use to be between us." says Syd as she tries to nuzzle up to Jake. "Besides, won't this prove I was telling the truth about Ricki?"

Jake rejects Sydney's advances. "I don't know, Sydney. Lately, I've had a real hard time believing anything you say." Sydney just shrugs and looks at Jake disappointed. "I have to go pick up Jo at her photo shoot." says Jake.

"Jo? What's the matter, she can't take care of herself? Jake, you can't leave me all alone here with Ricki. I need you here to protect me." says Sydney.

"Hey, you're the one who invited her here. Now I helped you out of this cult thing once, you choose to get back into it. And if any incident happens tonight with them, I'm blaming you, and I'm also firing you. Understand?" says Jake.

Sydney nods and hangs her head like a puppy dog. Jake grabs his jacket and heads out of the bar. As he's leaving Jane enters. Jake nods and says hi to Jane, and she just brushes him off. Jane goes and sits down at a bar table to have a drink. Sydney sees her and goes over to her table.

"Just bring me a beer and don't say anything, Syd. I'm not in the mood for one of your fantasies again." says Jane.

"Jane, listen to me. Ricki is coming here tonight to pick up her stuff. If you just hang around for a little while, you will see that I wasn't lying about her." replies Sydney.

"Oh stop it." snaps Jane angrily. "Look, Jake and I aren't seeing each other anymore. I broke it off. You did it. You won. You ruined my relationship with him, just like you've ruined all my other relationships. So there is no need to go on with this ludicrous charade any longer." retorts Jane.

"Wait, so you and Jake aren't seeing each other anymore? Well, can't say that I'm not surprised. I mean sooner or later Jake was going to find out that you only design clothes with sex appeal to compensate for the fact that you don't have any." retorts Sydney in retaliation because she is tired of Jane's constant put downs and accusations.

"You know what. I think I've lost my thirst. I'm out of here." replies Jane.

Sydney is proud of her snide remark at first, but soon realizes that she needs Jane to believe her about Ricki so that maybe she'll help her out.

"No wait, Jane. I'm sorry, okay? It's just that I've really been under a lot of stress lately. But I really need you right now. You're my sister. And I'm real sorry about what I just said. Let me make it up to you." Sydney goes to the bar and grabs a draft beer from the bartender and takes it back over to Jane's table.

"Here you go, Jane. This beer is on me." says Sydney.

"No Syd." Jane takes the beer and pours it over Sydney's head. Everyone else at the bar stops what they are doing and looks over at the scene these two just caused. "Now it's on you," says Jane, as she puts the glass on the counter and leaves.

Sydney goes over and grabs some napkins from behind the counter and starts to wipe the beer off of her face and her shirt. As she is doing that, somebody from the back of the bar comes up to her and startles her when she starts talking.

"I knew she was a bitch. See, I told you that she doesn't deserve you for a sister."

Sydney turns around after wiping the beer out of her eyes and sees Ricki standing in front of her.

"Hello Syd. I came here to get my things." says Ricki.

"Ricki? You do realize that you could have saved me that whole embarrassment just now if you would have been here 5 minutes ago," replies Sydney.

"But I was here. You just didn't see me," replies Ricki.

"So you hid out and you conveniently waited until my sister and Jake both left before you let your presence be known. If either one would have just seen you here, they would have known I wasn't lying last night and my relationship with both would have greatly improved." says Sydney.

"But I'm always around, Sydney. I've been watching you for a while, now. You just haven't been looking for me hard enough" replies a smiling Ricki.

"See I knew it. It was you in my apartment last night, wasn't it?" Sydney asks.

"I swear I don't know what you are talking about." replies Ricki.

"Don't play stupid with me, Ricki. If it wasn't you, then just who was it that deleted your message off my answering machine before Jake and Jane had a chance to hear it? The tooth fairy?" says Sydney in an annoyed and sarcastic tone.

"Well it wasn't me. I haven't been in your apartment. But I just as easily could have been. Syd, you are obviously going through a really difficult challenge in your life right now. You don't need shallow people like Jake and your bitchy sister Jane bringing you down. You need your real family who support you and love you to help you rise and overcome these challenges. People like Martin and me."

"Yeah, right. Martin loves me so much that he locked me in a hole over night." replies Sydney.

"That was for your own good, Sydney. We can help you in ways other people won't. As a matter of fact, we don't let people like Jane humiliate a family member like what she did to you just now." Sydney looks at Ricki in awe. "Don't worry, Syd. She'll pay for it. Your sister has brought you a lot of pain and embarrassment. She's turned your whole building against you and stole Jake. She'll pay for it with a lot of pain." Ricki replies in a nasty tone.

"I don't want her to pay, alright?" Sydney grabs the box with Ricki's things in it and shoves it into Ricki's chest. "Just take your crap, and stay the hell out of my life. That goes for your sick boyfriend Martin too. I don't want any part of your sick twisted bigamy life style."

Ricki takes the box and just smiles back at Sydney with a wicked grin. "Fine Syd, but this isn't all my stuff. There is one more thing that's not in that box. I can't leave until all my family is with me, and that includes you."

"Just leave me alone, alright?"

"Sorry Syd, but I care about you too much to just sit by and watch people like Jane continue to bring you down. When the time is right, I will make things all better for you. You'll see."

Ricki laughs and walks out of the bar with her stuff, leaving Sydney there staring at her and wondering whether or not Ricki was really in her apartment the previous night and if she means it about coming after Jane.


	2. Everybody in the pool

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Melrose Place or any of the characters involved in this story.**

* * *

><p>As Michael walks down the hall of Wilshire Memorial, wearing his white doctor's coat overtop his greens, Matt catches up with him and begins to walk with him.<p>

"Hey Michael, have you seen Kimberly?" asks Matt.

"No Matt, I haven't. And if I had my way, I'd never have to see that red headed bitch again for the rest of my life. But something tells me that I won't be that lucky," replies Michael.

"Wait, let me guess. Trouble in paradise again?" asks Matt jokingly.

"Oh, it's a little more serious this time around. Why are you asking me about her anyways?" asks Michael.

"Well, it's just that she hasn't turned in her paperwork at all. And when I went to see the chief of staff, Dr. Hobbes, he says that Kimberly hasn't checked in for her rounds the last 2 days." says Matt.

Michael's usual confident look turns to concern as he grabs Matt by the arm and pulls him into an unoccupied hospital room so that nobody else will hear there conversation.

"Look, I don't know if you heard it on the gossip line back at the apartment complex yet or not, but I left Kimberly. I have a meeting with my lawyer later this week and I'm filing for divorce" says Michael.

"Divorce, huh? Did you finally come to your senses and realize that women who try to run you down intentionally aren't ideal for long term relationships?" says Matt jokingly.

"Yeah real funny, Matt." says Michael annoyed at Matt's attempt to be funny. "Look this isn't about me. She tried to sabotage one of my patient's recovery. And I've just had it up to here with her lunacy. It has reached the point where I'm so disgusted with her that I can't stand to even look at her, so I moved out yesterday."

"Uh-huh. So you need a place to stay? Cause you can stay with me at least for a day or two until you find a place." offers Matt.

"Thanks for the offer, Matt. But it just so happens that I've moved in with somebody else." Michael pauses. "I'm living with Amanda."

Matt looks at Michael and grins in shock. "No way, you and Amanda are living together?" Michael nods his head in an affirmative fashion with a childish grin on his face. "It's all starting to become clear now. You left Kimberly for Amanda, and now Kimberly has disappeared, and more than likely has gone off the deep end. Am I right?" asks Matt.

"It's a little more complicated than that. But you got the basic premise of it." says Michael.

"Well Michael, I hate to bring you down while you're basking in the glow of your latest fling…."

Michael cuts off Matt. "This is no fling, Matt. It's true love, this time for sure."

Matt rolls his eyes. "Sure Michael whatever. But listen to me, the psychological evaluation we ran on Kimberly a few weeks ago showed that she takes the word 'unstable' to new heights. Simply put, she's a loose cannon and can't cope when things don't go her way. You leaving her and moving in with Amanda could very well push her over the edge and cause her to go and do something horrific, maybe even kill somebody." he says.

"So what are you suggesting? That I should stay married to her and hope she doesn't slit my throat in the middle of the night? Matt, I don't love her anymore. I don't even like her right now." says Michael.

"No. I tried telling you to divorce her after she ran you down and you got your memory back. If you had listened to me then, maybe we wouldn't be having this conversation. All, I'm saying is that you need to be careful. I saw her tests results and I know what she's capable of. I also was the victim of an attack the she orchestrated so that she could get in and change the test results to make her look like a saint. Just be on the lookout, Michael. That's all I'm saying." says Matt as he starts to walk out.

Michael begins to think about what Matt said and speaks up just before he leaves. "Hey Matt, you want to help me try to find her? If you and I both testify against her and what she's done, maybe we could get her locked up so she won't hurt anybody anymore." suggests Michael.

"Sorry Michael. I'd love to help, but I have my own crazy nutcases to worry about." says Matt as he leaves. Michael ponders what Matt meant by that for a moment than leaves the room to continue on with his job.

* * *

><p>Allison is sitting at her desk, totally unable to concentrate on her work because of the phone call she received earlier. Billy is talking to her trying to comfort her.<p>

"Allison, your father is scum for what he did to you. But I really can't see him coming all the way out here to L.A. to kill his own daughter. I mean, what would be the point in that?" asks Billy.

"Billy, my mother is dead. And dad's life has totally gone down hill since the scene at the barbeque. Don't you get it? I'm responsible for ruining his life. He's wanted for murder, he's lost all his friends, and what other motivation does he have but to kill the person who ruined it?" she replies.

"But why would he want to kill me?" asks Billy.

"Because, we were engaged and he knows how close we are. To him, you're the guy who turned me against him. Plus don't forget, you came in and rescued Meredith and I. So it's not good enough just to get me, he has to get you too." answers Allison.

"So what should we do?" he asks. "We have to go to the police and report this."

"Definitely. We should probably do it tonight, cause there's the Century awards tomorrow night." Allison pauses. She looks up at Billy, then at her watch and sees that it's after 4:00. "Billy, oh my god, we forgot about Amanda's entry form for the century awards. It's 4:15, we missed the deadline." says Allison with a blank look of fear on her face.

"Allison, we might not have to worry about your father. Amanda is going to kill us first." says Billy as he and Allison just look at each other with facial expressions that say they are in over their heads.

* * *

><p>Michael drives out to the beach house at night to pick up the rest of his things. Not knowing if he will encounter Kimberly, he prepares himself for one of her psycho fits when he opens up the front door and walks in.<p>

"Kimberly? You here? I don't want to talk to you or even look at your ugly face. I just want to get my stuff and get out of here," shouts out Michael. His voice echoes throughout the apparently empty beach house.

Michael looks around and is completely dumbfounded by what he sees. The house has been completely trashed. The food has been taken out of the refrigerator and thrown all over the living room. All of Michael's clothes have been cut up and shredded. The couch has been cut open and the stuffing inside has been taken out. The tv has been destroyed. The walls are painted with the words "Kill Michael" and "Die Amanda Die" repeatedly.

Michael walks into the bedroom and takes an immediate right to the bathroom. The mirror in the bathroom has been smashed into pieces which lie in the sink and on the ground which makes a crunching noise as Michael walks on them. Hung up on the wall are photos of Michael with daggers and swords drawn through his head and neck as well as some of Amanda with a knife drawn through her chest and the word "bitch" written all over the pictures.

Michael, who normally is able to keep his calm when dealing with Kimberly, starts to breathe heavily when he looks at the bed and sees that the covers are pulled up and there is a huge person size lump underneath them. He prepares himself for Kimberly to be underneath there. He goes over by the bed, pulls the covers down and doesn't even look but immediately goes in for an attack and throws a punch at whatever is underneath.

To Michael's relief, it's only dummies, two dummies that have pictures of Michael and Amanda's faces on them. One of them is wearing one of Michael's suits and has dark hair. The other has on a short skirt and blouse similar to what Amanda wears to D&D. Both dummies have knives driven into the chest and the dummy with Amanda's picture on it has a note on it that says "Amanda, you should have let the cancer kill you."

Michael grabs the dummy and throws it up against the wall in anger. At that exact moment, the phone rings. Michael hesitates for a second, but then pushes his way through the messy house and answers it.

A wicked laugh bellows on the other side of the phone. There's no question to Michael who it is. "Are you scared, Michael?" says the voice on the other end. "You damn well better be."

"Kimberly, where the hell are you?" replies Michael.

"Oh I'm close, Michael. Very close. I'm so close to you that you could practically reach out and touch me." Michael looks around the house, starting to feel uneasy. "Go on, reach out and touch me, Michael. I won't bite" says Kimberly sounding more and more creepy.

"Stop with the mind games you psychotic loon." says Michael.

"Now now, Michael. Let's not go calling names. Did you have fun sleeping with Amanda last night?" Michael's face grows more and more intense. "I bet you made her a nice breakfast to thank her for it too. Let me guess, you made your famous omelette and orange juice combination. Nice touch. I guess you finally got what you wanted." says Kimberly.

Michael is now walking around the house and looking out all the windows, looking for Kimberly. "Yeah, well it sure as hell beats sleeping next to your ugly ass. And unlike you, I can hug her without worrying that she'll stick a knife in my back," retorts Michael.

"Nice Michael. Real nice." Kimberly pauses as Michael goes out on the porch to look on the beach but fails to see her. "Just enjoy it why you can, because your little cancerous slut is about to be introduced to the real meaning of pain and suffering, first hand. And you are going to have the pleasure of watching her suffer, knowing that you are the reason she is behind it." says Kimberly in a psychotic tone.

"No! Damn it Kimberly!" fires Michael back. "You're not getting anywhere near Amanda. You hear me? You've really done it now. I'm going straight to the medical authorities and tell them everything you've been up to, from Matt's attack to your attempted sabotage of Amanda's treatment, not to mention the way you trashed this beach house with your Charles Manson artwork in the bedroom here. They'll lock you up in a padded cell for the rest of your life and throw the key away." says Michael almost screaming in a panicked rage.

"Go ahead, Michael. They'll never find me. And neither will you. No, you won't see me until I've decided it's time for you to start suffering too. See your on my schedule. So enjoy your wonderful life now while you can. Because it'll all end when I decide it's time for it to end." says Kimberly. Michael goes back inside leaving the sliding glass for open.

"Yeah, really scary talk when you're on the phone. Look, anybody can mess up a beach house. But why don't you stop talking about how I should be so scared of you and show me." taunts Michael.

"What an excellent idea, Michael" says Kimberly.

Just then, a loud bang goes off on the beach. Michael runs back out to the back porch to see what it is. Just as he does, fire crackers go off underneath the beach house, scaring Michael. He quickly runs back into the house and closes the sliding door. While leaning up against the door to catch his breathe, he gets knocked off his feet when a huge rock comes through the sliding glass door and shatters it open. Michael drops the phone and starts to run out the front door when another rock comes flying through the side window, and then a third rock comes through another window. Michael rushes out the door and to his car and takes off. As Michael drives away, we hear Kimberly's evil laugh on the end of the phone that Michael dropped in the living room.

* * *

><p>Back at the apartment complex, it is night time and dark. The black hooded stalker is back to work again. We see the stalker sneak out of Jake's apartment, apparently having broken into it, and tapes a note to Jake's front door. The stalker hears somebody coming and takes off out the front gate without being seen.<p>

Jake and Jo make their way into the court yard, they are met by Matt as he comes out of his apartment to meet them. "Hey, where have you guys been?"

"We went to the police, then I picked up Jo from her shoot." responds Jake.

"Matt, somebody keyed my car. I'm pretty sure that it was John." says Jo.

"Oh my god. So what did the police say?" asks Matt with a concerned look on his face.

"In a nutshell, they were no help at all. They said they can't do anymore than what they're doing right now unless we have hard evidence that it is John who is harassing us." says Jake.

"Well that's stupid, do they need a picture of John holding a gun to our heads before they do something?" replies Matt.

Jake slightly grins at Matt's comment, but then notices the note that the stalker taped to his door. He goes over and rips it off of his front door and reads it to Matt and Jo. "Mr. Hanson, I have no issue with you. But I do have a score to settle with Jo and Matt. If you continue to intervene, I will have no choice but to take you out. For your own safety, I strongly advise you to stay out of it and mind your own business. It's signed 'a concerned citizen'."

Jo, Jake, and Matt just look at each other. Jo looks frightened and Matt looks deeply concerned. Jake opens up his apartment door and finds pictures hanging from the ceiling. Jake rips them down and looks at them. The pictures are of Jo and Jake leaving that morning to go to the police. There are also some pictures of Matt sitting in his apartment.

"Oh my god. Matt, Jake, you know what this means? He was in here. Detective Rawlings has been stalking us. I took pictures of him which he didn't know about, so this is him getting back at me by taking pictures of us which we didn't know about. He must be staking us out." says a fearful Jo.

"That does it." says Jake. He goes over and closes the blinds then locks the door and puts a chair in front of it "You two are staying here with me tonight. One of us is staying awake at all times. Tomorrow, we are taking this to Detective Wilkins and getting this crap taken care of once and for all."

Jo goes over and puts her head on Jake's chest and hugs him. "My god, Jake. I'm so sorry. I should never have gotten you into this." She says.

"You didn't get me into anything, Jo. I'm not going to let anybody push my friends around." says Jake in a reassuring voice. Jo hugs Jake, not letting go out of fear. Matt looks on, unable to say anything.

* * *

><p>In Amanda's apartment the next morning, Amanda is dressed in a casual outfit consisting of jeans and a red sweater and is brushing her teeth. Michael has just woken up and walks past the bathroom in a white t-shirt and grey sweat pants where she greets him with a big smile. Amanda seems to be in an unusually chipper mode.<p>

"Good Morning, sunshine. I was beginning to think you were going to sleep all day. You must have come in late last night. Did you get all your stuff out of the beach house?" asks Amanda as she finishes brushing her teeth and rinses out her mouth with mouthwash.

Michael, who is extremely disturbed by what happened at the beach house the previous night, doesn't want to tell Amanda about what happened at the beach house because he doesn't want to bring down Amanda's mood. She's been so depressed lately, that he figures it's better to lie then tell her the truth about Kimberly and scare her.

"No. I couldn't break away from the ER last night. But I did talk to Kimberly and worked out a time to get my things tomorrow while she's on rounds. Oh and I also told her not to bother you anymore or I was going straight to the medical board. So I don't think you'll be hearing from her again." replies Michael.

"Well good. Now we can focus on more important things." replies Amanda back with a smile.

"Yeah, like getting you well. Now it's Saturday, Amanda. You need to be taking it easy and let the drugs do their work. Now as your doctor, I prescribe a day of rest on the sofa in front of the tv." says Michael.

"Sorry, no can do, Michael. I was able to get Franklin Cruiseline back as a client yesterday, cleaning up the mess that Billy and Allison left me. And tonight is the night I've been waiting for my whole career. I can feel it, I'm finally going to win the advertiser of the year award," says Amanda as she makes her way out toward the front door, grabbing her purse. Michael follows her.

"Okay, so at least rest until it's time to go to that." suggests Michael.

"Sorry Michael, but I need to go to the spa and then to the beauty parlor. I need to look my best for tonight. And so do you if you're going to be my date. So I hope you got your nicest tux back from the beach house." says Amanda. Michael looks at her, annoyed that she's not taking his advice and resting. "Look, I just need you to go along with me on this for today. This is extremely important to me. I promise I'll spend all day tomorrow resting. Maybe even in bed all day with you if I win," she says in a seductive voice.

"Yeah, Yeah." says Michael in a sarcastic but friendly tone of voice. "Speaking of that, do you think we might graduate from spooning and move on to the next level of intimacy at some point before I start collecting my retirement fund? Not that this cuddling stuff isn't great, but well you know, there are other things to do." he says.

"Michael, I told you. I have to get well, first. Right now, it's enough just having you there with me when I fall asleep. Besides, I have to conserve my energy to get well. But I promise you, if I win tonight, we'll come back here tonight and have our own private little celebration. And I can guarantee that you won't be disappointed." Amanda says as she pulls him in and gives him a passionate kiss before darting out the door.

Michael closes the door with a cocky grin on his face that hides the frustration that is building up inside of him. While happy to be by Amanda's side, he's frustrated that they haven't had sex since returning from New York. But even more important, he's contemplating how to handle Kimberly's borderline psychotic behavior without Amanda knowing. At that moment, the phone rings, and as Michael answers it, he hears a very familiar voice on the other end once again.

"So what did you two have for breakfast today? Fruit Loops?" says Kimberly.

Michael clinches his teeth, with boiling up anger and frustration inside of him, he lashes out back at Kimberly. "Kim, I swear to god if you call this number again, I'm going to rip your wig off and strangle you with your own hair," he says.

"My my, aren't we in a crabby mood this morning? Let me guess, Amanda still not giving you any?" asks Kimberly over the phone. "Don't you remember med school? Cancer decreases sexual desire. Add that to the fact that she's slept with just about every guy over at that apartment building and I'll say that's the recipe for some pretty lousy sex if you ask me. I can't believe you left me for that" jokes Kimberly in a malicious way.

"Save the comedy act for HBO, Kimberly. I'll take a vow of celibacy before I ever touch you again. You know, you are never getting away with what you tried to do to me last night. When I'm finished it'll be you who's going to be having lousy sex, with big Bertha in the slammer doing 20 to life for attempted homicide" retorts Michael.

"Sounds pretty kinky. By the way, I wouldn't leave Amanda all alone if I were you. L.A. is no place for a woman in her condition to be wondering around in alone" says Kimberly in a devious voice.

"No." says Michael who is about to blow a gasket. "You stay away from her. DAMNIT KIM, STAY AWAY FROM HER!" yells Michael at the top of his lungs

Kimberly just laughs manically on the other end, knowing she's completely gotten to Michael's psyche. "For the moment I will, Michael. For the moment." she says giggling then puts on a more serious tone. "But that moment is about to pass." Kimberly lets out an evil laugh as Michael grits his teeth and slams the phone down. In frustration he picks up a sofa pillow and throws it across the room with force.

* * *

><p>Allison has woken up and is still in her bath robe. She is sitting at her kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee and contemplating how she is going to handle telling Amanda that her entry form for the advertiser of the year award didn't get turned in.<p>

Billy is sitting there with her going back and forth between that problem as well as trying to figure out what to make of Allison's father.

"You know, I went to bed last night and I prayed that I wouldn't wake up this morning. Though if I'm lucky, maybe my father will come kill me before the Century Awards tonight," says Allison in a melancholy voice.

"Come on Allison, don't talk like that. Look, your father's just probably trying to scare you," he says.

"Well he's doing a damn good job if you ask me," she replies.

"And as for Amanda, it's going to be hard on her. But this wasn't your fault or my fault. She just misplaced her nomination. And with everything she's been going through with her cancer, this relationship or whatever it is with Michael, and the pressures of her job, it's no wonder." he says.

"You may be right," replies Allison.

"I'm sure I am. I bet any minute she'll find her nomination lying around her apartment and realize it was her mistake." says Billy.

Suddenly, there is a soft knock at Allison's door. She gets up and goes to open her door and Amanda is there.

"Amanda, hi." says Allison with a warm smile while trying to hide the own personal hell she's going through. Billy comes to the door to join in on the conversation.

"Look, I can't talk long. I got a long day at the beauty parlor to get ready for the awards tonight. The limo will be here at 7:00. I figure we can do a double date, Michael and I plus the two of you, will that work?" asks Amanda. They can hear the excitement in her tone.

"Um, yeah. That's fine. Listen Amanda, are you sure you really want us to go with you? I mean this is your big night and well, we kind of dropped the ball while you were in New York." says Allison

"No need to worry about that anymore, Allison. I was able to get Franklin to stay on with D&D yesterday. It ate up most of my day trying to convince him, but in the end he signed back on," replies Amanda. "And to top it off, Mr. Franklin knows several members of the voting board personally and he assured me he's going to do all he can to convince them to vote for me. Tonight is going to be my night, I can just feel it." says an excited Amanda.

"That's great, Amanda. You definitely deserve it" says Billy.

"I just wanted to drop by and tell you two personally. And I definitely want you both there with me when I win this award." says Amanda.

"Are you sure about that?" asks Allison.

"Without a doubt. Allison, I know you and I don't always see eye to eye. But the truth is I depend on both of you for an awful lot. Maybe I don't show my appreciation that much at the office cause that's not my style, but I do recognize all the sacrifices that you two make. I might not always get the results that I'm looking for from you guys, but your effort and dedication both mean a lot to me. And I plan to mention both of you personally at my acceptance speech tonight. So I want you both to be there." says Amanda.

"Gee, Thanks Amanda. That really means a lot," replies Allison with a smile hiding her immense insecurity.

"Well, I have to run. I got a busy day ahead of me. Make sure you guys are ready to go at 7:00," says Amanda as she turns around and walks out the court yard.

"We'll be here" says Billy as Allison closes the door.

As soon as the door closes, Allison lets out an exhale. "Billy, I think you and I better start looking for new jobs," she says.

"Calm down, Allison"

"No, I won't calm down. After everything Amanda has been through, this is the first thing she's had to smile about in a month. This is the first time she's shown any shred of happiness. And no matter whose fault it is, she's going to blame me that her nomination didn't get turned in. And all the verbal tongue lashings she's given me before will seem like a walk in the park compared to what she'll say and/or do to me when she finds out. Honestly, I'd almost rather go back down into the basement with my father then have to endure what will happen when Amanda hears she's not on the nomination list." she says.

"Listen, lets at least go down fighting," replies Billy.

"What do you mean?" she asks.

"I know some people on the committee and so do you, lets make some phone calls and see if we can't pull off some last second miracles," he says.

"So where do we start?" asks Allison.

As Billy and Allison begin to go over names of people on the Century Awards Committee, from an unknown location, it is revealed that the black hooded stalker is listening in on their conversation through the transmitter that was hidden beneath the couch and is taking notes. On a yellow note pad, we see that notes have been taken, and the time of 6:30 p.m has been circled and highlighted.

We also see that more than one radio is there at this location, and that each radio is labelled with an apartment number from 1 through 8. There is one more radio that is labelled for the courtyard. It has now become evident that whoever this stalker is, he/she has planted transmitters all around the entire complex and has been listening in on every single conversation in every apartment.

* * *

><p>Matt peaks in between the blinds out into the courtyard, which is empty at this point. Jake and Jo are both asleep. Jake is sleeping while sitting in a chair, Jo is lying down on the couch. Matt looks at the clock to check the time, and then goes over and wakes them both up.<p>

"Hey, come on. Wake up guys." he says.

Jake and Jo wake up groggily.

"Listen, we have to call Detective Wilkins."

Jake nods in agreement. He looks in his wallet and finds the card that Detective Wilkins gave him and calls it up.

"Wilkins" answers the detective on the other end of the phone.

"Detective, it's Jake Hanson," he replies. "Listen, I don't know what further kind of evidence you need, but I came home last night only to find a threatening letter to Jo and Matt taped to my door that was warning me to stay out of it. And along with there were pictures hanging in my apartment of myself, Jo, and Matt that were apparently taken yesterday. So if you ask me, this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Detective Rawlings has been here and that he broke into my apartment and has been stalking us. Now if somebody doesn't get their ass down here to investigate this thing right now, somebody's going to get killed. And I'll be damned if it's going to be my friends." shouts Jake over the phone.

"Mr. Hanson, calm down please," replies the detective.

"No I'm not going to calm down until you send somebody over here to do something about this instead of sitting in your police station with your thumb up your butt." replies Jake.

"Alright look. We do have reason to believe that John Rawlings has been stalking the apartment complex and probably looking for the right moment to come after Mr. Fielding and Ms. Reynolds. And now that you've gotten involved, he's probably targeting you too. But we can't send over uniformed cops. Because all he'll do is lay low until he leaves," says the detective.

"So what are you going to do?" replies Jake.

"We have to find someway to get this guy to come out into the open. And to catch him red handed. And I have an idea on how we might be able to flush him out and arrest him. But I'm going to need you guys help to do this. Listen, do you know where Jo and Matt are?" asks the detective.

"Yeah, they are here in my apartment with me." replies Jake.

"Good, stay there and don't move. Don't leave your apartment at all, don't answer the door or the telephone. I will be by this afternoon to explain the whole situation. Just stay there until I do." says the detective.

"You want us to just stay here and not do anything?" asks Jake.

"For now, yes. Just take my word for it." replies Wilkins.

"Alright, we'll be here." says Jake and hangs up the phone.

"So what do we do now?" asks Jo.

"We wait." replies Jake.

After listening in on this, the hooded stalker gets up and leaves after turning off all of the equipment at the location. The stalker walks outside and grabs a solid lead pipe that is by the doorway and gets in a black car and drives off.

* * *

><p>Later that afternoon, we see Detective Wilkins pull up in his car to the apartment complex to see Jake, Jo, and Matt. As Wilkins starts to get out of his car, we see that the stalker has already gotten there and hits Wilkins hard over the head with the pipe knocking him back into the car. The stalker quickly gets in Wilkins car and hits him in the head with the pipe again, this time crushing the detective's skull and killing him almost instantaneously. Blood spills all over the car door and on the pavement.<p>

The stalker reaches into Wilkins inside coat pocket and grabs his hand pistol. The stalker pushes Wilkins down in the seat so that nobody can look in the window and see him, rolls the window up and closes the door and runs off, again without being seen.

* * *

><p>At Shooters, Sydney is working the tables when the phone rings.<p>

"Shooters." she answers.

"Hi Syd." says the female voice on the other end of the phone, who turns out to be Ricki.

"Ricki, I don't have time for this. I'm backed up here on drink orders and I don't know where the hell Jake is. He hasn't showed up to work and he's not answering his phone, and….." Ricki cuts Sydney off.

"Don't worry about him. He's safe. We would never do anything to harm your precious Jake." says Ricki.

"Who's we?" asks Syd. "Ricki where are you?"

"It's not where I'm at right now, Syd. It's where I will be shortly, and where you should be too. You see, Martin and I want you back, Syd. We want your friendship. And we want to show you first hand how serious we are." she says.

"Wait. Back up. What are you talking about?" asks Sydney.

"Your sister Jane has hurt and humiliated you an awful lot. She's brought a lot of pain into your life. Well, it's payback time. Martin and I have a little surprise for her at 6:30 tonight. She's going to know the true meaning of pain."

"No. Why are you doing this?" Syd replies.

"Cause, we love you Sydney. And we won't let anybody hurt you. And after 7:00, Jane will never hurt you again. I promise." says Ricki.

Sydney slams down the phone in fear and looks up at the clock as it says 6:45. Realizing she has only 15 minutes, she sprints out Shooters and completely ignores the impatient customers who are asking for their drinks.

* * *

><p>The stalker dressed in all black with a black mask, black hood, black shirt, black pants, and black gloves creeps his way toward the apartment complex. The stalker takes the hand gun that heshe took from Detective Wilkins and checks it to make sure there are bullets in there. After, tucking it in the pocket of the coat that he/she is wearing, the stalker goes down an alley behind the complex and using a trash dumpster to stand on manages to climb to the roof of the complex.

The stalker perches on top of the apartment building, remaining out of sight of anybody in the courtyard, but sits at a vantage point where the entire courtyard is visible. The stalker then takes out a pair of binoculars and looks down into the pool water that has begun reflecting off the walls. With binoculars in one hand a gun in the other, the stalker appears ready to strike at his/her designated target, which presumably is one of the tenants in the building. Two questions still remain. Who is the stalker? Is it Kimberly? Is it Detective John Rawlings? Is it Ricki or Martin from the cult? Or could it be Allison's father returning to L.A. to get revenge on his daughter for ruining his reputation? Or could it be somebody else entirely?

And just who is the stalker looking to kill? With the entire building on edge, little does everyone know how close danger really is.

At Amanda's apartment, Michael has his black tuxedo on, with everything except the jacket on as he's pacing up and down the hallway. Amanda has her nicest black dress on and is finishing putting on the last of her make up in front of the bathroom mirror. Michael paces by.

"Michael, would you calm down? The way you keep walking up and down the hall, you would think that you were the one up for the award tonight." says Amanda. Little does she know that his nervousness is due to the fact that he suspects that Kimberly will most likely do something crazy to try to ruin the evening and hurt Amanda in the process.

"Sorry Amanda. I guess I just can't help it. I know how bad you want to win this thing and I also know how bad I want to get you back here in bed once you do win. " says Michael trying to lighten the mood.

Amanda shakes her head after that statement and then chuckles. "You know, two months ago if you had said that to me I would have laughed you right out of this building." she says.

"Yeah, amazing isn't it, how it took me saving you for you to see me in a better light." he replies as he walks into the bathroom to see if she is done with her makeup yet. "Amanda, you really don't need that much makeup." says Michael.

"Save the smooth talk for later, Michael. I need all the help I can get. All eyes will be on me for my acceptance speech and I can't give even the slightest inkling that I'm sick. Appearances are everything in advertising." she says. "And speaking of appearances, your tie is on crooked." she says to him

Amanda stands up and begins to adjust Michael's tie when the phone rings. "Answer that, will you? I need to finish putting on my eye liner." she says.

Michael goes to the kitchen and answers the phone. "Hello this is Dr. Michael Mancini." he answers.

"Hi this is Mr. Franklin, owner of Franklin Cruiselines. I'm trying to reach Amanda Woodward." replies the voice over the phone.

Michael goes back to the bathroom and hands Amanda the cordless phone. "It's for you. It's the owner of Franklin Cruiselines" he says.

Amanda takes the phone with an ecstatic look of joy on her face as she covers up the receiver to talk to Michael so Franklin can't hear her. "Yes. I knew it. Rumor has it they always let the winners know ahead of time that they won, that way they have time to rehearse their speech a little more. He must be calling me to tell me I won." she whispers to Michael with a huge smile, hardly able to contain her excitement.

"Mr. Franklin. You have good news for me?" she asks over the phone.

"Well, I spoke with my friends on the judging panel here about your professional manner and your hard work, and they all agreed with me and you were a show-in to win." replies Mr. Franklin.

The smile on Amanda's face slowly begins to dissipate when she hears one key word. "Wait a minute. 'Were' a shoe-in? What do you mean were?" she asks.

"Well Amanda, I don't know how to tell you this but it seems like the nominating committee never received your entry form." he replies.

"But that's impossible. I sent one of my people over with it yesterday." she shouts. Michael's smile disappears as well as he can see her instantaneous mood change and knows it has to be bad.

"Amanda, I asked the admin staff to look over all their paperwork. They couldn't find your entry form. Either it was misplaced or the person you sent over forgot to turn it in. I'm truly sorry, but there's nothing I can do. I'm afraid you are just going to have to wait until next year." says an apologetic Mr. Franklin.

Without saying another word, Amanda hangs up the phone and turns around and looks at Michael. Her eyes look at him with the kind of hurt and anger that one only feels when their biggest dreams die. For Amanda, this has been magnified tenfold. And the words "wait until next year" echo in her head like a bad nightmare. For would there even be a next year for her?

"I don't believe this." she whispers staring past him.

"What is it? What happened?" asks Michael.

"They never got my entry form. I'm not going to win. I'm not even going to be on the nominations list." she says looking at him. The sadness dwells in her eyes and a single tear rolls out of it and down her cheek.

"Oh gosh, Amanda, I'm sorry." says Michael. Michael grabs her and pulls her in for a comforting hug. She just stands there and buries her face in his shoulder for several minutes, not knowing why this is all happening. For Amanda, it's like her last breathe had been taken from her and now she was shrivelling up. "How could this have happened?" asks Michael.

Suddenly, the blank sadness and sense of loss that Amanda was feeling has been replaced by uncontrollable anger and rage. She releases from Michael's hug and looks him in the eye and with just one word that tells exactly where the focus of all her anger is.

"Allison." she says in a tone that could mean only one thing. Amanda was going to tear her to shreds.

Amanda darts toward the door, with Michael trying to stop her. "Amanda wait." he cries out.

"Michael, don't try to stop me and don't stand in my way. This is the last straw. For 2 years I've bent over backwards to help that dim-witted, self-indulgent pitiful excuse for an employee out. I took her under my wing, and this is how she repays me? By screwing me over on the most important night of my life? Well, I'm going down there and I'm going to tear that pretty little face of hers right off." she says bluntly.

Amanda barges out of her apartment as Michael follows.

* * *

><p>"This is ridiculous. Detective Wilkins should have been here hours ago. What could be taking him so long?" barks Jake who is pacing around and looking out windows as he appears to be getting cabin fever after being inside his apartment all day with Jo and Matt.<p>

"Maybe he got tied up in traffic or something?" suggests Matt.

"For six hours, Matt?" replies Jo.

"Well this is L.A." he says.

Reaching the end of his rope, Jake throws his hands up in the air. "All right, that's it. That does it. I don't give a damn what that detective says. I'm getting out of here and I'm driving down to the police station." he says.

"Jake, you can't. What if John is watching this apartment right now at this very moment? He's a trained cop and he's already proven he knows how to kill. Something bad could happen to you." cries Jo.

"Something bad has already happened to me, Jo, to all three of us. I mean look at us. We've been sitting in this damn apartment for almost 24 hours straight, hiding out like a bunch of chicken littles. I'm sorry, Jo. But that's not how I live my life. When I have a problem, I face it head on. That's just how I am." says Jake assertively.

"Now I'm walking out that front door, out of this complex, and I'm getting on my bike and heading to the police station." says Jake.

"You're right, I'm coming with you." says Jo.

"Just one thing." says Matt as he hands Jake his car keys. "Lets take my car instead. John will have a tougher time getting to three of us in a car than just two on a bike."

"Good point." replies Jake as he smirks at Matt.

Jake, Matt, and Jo all walk over to the front door. Jake singles that he's going to count to 3 and that on 3, he's going to open the door and everyone's going to run really fast out of the complex. Jake gives the signal, opens the door and they all take off really fast out of the complex as Jo and Matt follow him.

The stalker on top of the roof of the complex sees them rush out and tip toes over to that side of the building to get a closer look, but as the three of them leave, another person enters the courtyard from the rear gate.

It's Ricki, dressed in jeans and a dark tank top. With a wicked scowl on her face, Ricki walks over to Jane's apartment door and knocks. Jane opens up the door and is startled when she sees Ricki standing there in front of her.

"Hello slut. Surprised to see me?" says Ricki looking down her nose at Jane.

"Ricki. I don't know what you are doing here, but if you don't get out of…" Jane gets interrupted as Ricki plants a cold hard slap right across her left cheek.

"That's what I'm doing here, bitch. You wouldn't believe Sydney when she told you I was here. You were so damned determine that she was lying that you even stopped dating Jake because he half believed her. You're so pathetic. You didn't think what Sydney was saying was real. Well that little love tap shows you just how real I am." says Ricki.

"I'll let you have that one for free, but hit me again and I'll…." Ricki slaps Jane across the face even harder this time.

"And you'll do what, huh? What are you going to do, bitch? I just hit you again, what are you going to do? Are you going to take a swing? Go right ahead. Do something daring for once in your life instead of being the snivelling little self-righteous prude that you are. Yeah, I know what you do. Sydney told me all about it. You blame her for every single thing that goes wrong in your life instead of facing up to the fact that you're just a loser."

Jane tries to keep her composure. "If I'm a loser, what does that make you, Ricki? It makes you one mentally disturbed sick freak."

"Maybe, but atleast I'm not a short haired, sexless, bony little broad who couldn't keep a guy if she paid him every night for sex. Yeah, I know about that too, Jane. Why is it all the men in your life wind up cheating on you with somebody else? It's because you can't make a man happy. And why? Cause you are nothing but a selfish bitch who thinks only of herself, not to mention a pathetic failure at everything. I mean look at you. Your design shop is a failure, so is all your relationships. Even your so called friends think your weak. You don't deserve somebody like Sydney for a sister. But you have her and you treat her like garbage when you should get down on your hands and knees and KISS HER ASS." shouts Ricki.

Unable to take any more, Jane balls up her fist and with all her force punches Ricki in the face as hard as she can. Ricki stands there laughing, seemingly unphased by it. But she reaches up and touches her lip with her index finger and sees that Jane has drawn blood. She looks at her and snarls. "You skanky bitch." she cries and lunges at Jane as a catfight ensues.

Sydney comes running into the courtyard just as the fight breaks out. "Ricki, stop it." she yells across the courtyard at her. Sydney rushes to try to pull Ricki off of Jane as Ricki has taken her down to the ground and has her in the headlock and begins to pound on her. "Jane, get out of here now. She's going to kill you." cries Sydney.

"Shut up, Sydney." says Jane.

"See Jane, even now when your sister is trying to help you, you still yell at her. What kind of sister are you? Syd, listen to me, you don't need this bitch for a sister. You have a real family now" says Ricki as she and Jane continue to wrestle on the ground. Sydney tries to get in between the two to break it up but she winds up getting punched several times herself.

The stalker is watching this intently through the binoculars, but drops the pistol while watching and it falls down into an area of the roof that is pitched black. Unable to shine a light for fear of drawing attention, the stalker gets down on his/her stomach and crawls over to the darkened area and begins to feel around for the pistol, unable to locate it.

While Jane, Sydney, and Ricki tassel over on the side of the courtyard where Jane's apartment is, Amanda comes storming out of her apartment on the other side. Feeling uncontrollable rage, Amanda doesn't even acknowledge the three woman cat fight going on. Instead she just marches straight for Allison's door.

Following behind Amanda, Michael sees the Jane, Sydney, and Ricki catfight and looks on with lustful male interest before catching up to Amanda. He tries to draw Amanda's attention to it. "Shouldn't we…..?"

He is interrupted by Amanda before he can say anything. "Let them kill each other, Michael. I can't deal with their petty little squabble right now. I got a spineless worm I have to fry." says Amanda

Amanda bangs on Allison's door with authority. Michael is standing right behind her but only partially paying attention as he can't help but watch the three way cat fight and enjoy it, especially given that it's involving two of his ex-wives.

Allison opens the door, with Billy standing behind her, as the she sees Amanda standing there with a look that could kill. "Amanda" she says but is immediately cut off before she can say another word.

"Don't talk. Just stand there like the incompetent boob you are and listen to what I have to say. You know, for the past few weeks I've been wondering what bad thing I could have possibly done in my life to deserve this illness I'm now fighting. But I guarantee you that whatever I did to deserve that isn't one one-millionth as bad as whatever I must have done to have warranted the day I had the displeasure of meeting you, Allison." barks Amanda.

Allison just stares at Amanda blankly, knowing full well what this is about. Billy hears the commotion in the courtyard and looks past Michael's shoulder to see what is happening. Michael continues to divide his attention between the argument right there in front of him and the cat fight on the other side of the pool.

"Amanda, if this is about the entry form….." says Allison, again getting cut off by Amanda.

"Oh, so you know about it already. Just when in the hell were you planning on telling me? You were going to let me go all the way to the award ceremony tonight thinking I had a chance at winning and not tell me that my entry form never got turned in and that I wasn't even going to be announced on the list of nominees. What did you just want to have a front row seat to watch me look like a fool? What kind of rat poisoning do you have running through your veins, Allison." shouts Amanda.

Billy tries to speak up, but Amanda cuts him off before he can mutter a single word. Michael just stands by as a spectator, occasionally peaking over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of the other catfight.

"Don't even try to make an excuse for her, Billy. Cause I've been hearing them day in and day out for the last 2 years. What was it this time, Allison? Were you hung over again? Or did you have to attend another therapy session to try to make some sense out of your messed up pathetic life?" says Amanda.

Billy, getting enrgagd by Amanda's harsh words shouts overtop the noise. "Look here, your entry form didn't get turned in because there was nothing to turn in. The envelope you gave Allison yesterday morning, didn't have an entry form in it. It just had a blank sheet of paper. We tried to call you, but your orders were nobody was to disturb you on your meeting under any circumstance. So don't blame Allison, cause this wasn't her fault at all." screams Billy.

"That's ridiculous. There sure as hell was an entry form in that envelope. I put it there myself. And how would you know anything about it anyways, Billy?" asks Amanda.

"Because I saw it for myself. There was no entry form in that envelope. I turned it in, not Allison. I was doing her a favor. Allison had some personal business to attend to." says Billy trying to reason.

"What kind of personal business, another one of your loser meetings for pathetic drunks?" taunts Amanda.

"Hey that's enough." says Allison.

"No it's not enough. But I'll tell you what is enough, both of your jobs at D&D. Michael and I will attend the Century Awards tonight without you two. And don't bother coming in to work on Monday. You're both fired. Let's go Michael." says Amanda as she grabs Michael by the arm and starts to pull him out of the complex.

Michael, is obviously the only one in the courtyard who's enjoying himself as he just lets out a cat like grin and waves to Billy and Allison as he turns around and starts to accompany Amanda outside, while still catching as much of the catfight as he can.

Billy turns around and starts to walk back in Allison's apartment, but Amanda's words have sparked a flame inside Allison as she quickly cuts off Amanda's exit and begins to give her a piece of her mind.

"Now you look here, Amanda. I don't care how sick you are. You just don't come in here and talk to people like that, especially those who have been busting their butts for you." says Allison.

Billy rushes out to try to play mediator, along with Michael who has now completely lost interest in the other catfight and is trying to hold Amanda back from tearing Allison apart while Billy is hanging onto Allison.

"And where the hell do you get off firing me? I have put 2 and a half years into this company. I work nights, I work weekends. I've put in as much as 80 hours a week sometimes making sure everything runs smooth. You have no right to fire me because of some mishap that wasn't my fault." says Allison.

"Save your sap story for somebody who gives a damn, Allison. We all have had to make personal sacrifices. But you want pity every time something doesn't go your way." retorts Amanda.

"Amanda, you have no legal justification for firing me. And you better think long and hard before you do this. Because if you follow through, I promise I'm going to sue your ass off." replies Allison.

"In that case, I'll see you in court." says Amanda.

"Fine then. Since you are no longer my boss, just let me say this. You are by far the coldest, bitchiest shrew I have ever met in my entire life. Everyone busts their ass and walks through broken glass for you, and all you ever do is bitch and moan. You know, you may think you have friends, Amanda, but you don't. People are nice to you because they fear you. But the cold hard truth is that you don't have a friend in the world."

Michael coughs. "Um excuse me." he says.

"Except for Michael here, whose interest in you is likely all below the waist."

"Hey, come on now." cries Michael trying to get everyone to calm down and draw the attention off of himself.

"You know what, Allison, I'm gonna tear your throat out." says Amanda as she breaks free from Michael's grip and attacks Allison, tackling her to the ground. Allison grabs the upper hand as she rolls on top of Amanda and begins pulling her hair. Billy and Michael try to pull the two women off of each other.

"Hey! This is not good for your recovery, Amanda." shouts Michael as he pulls a kicking and screaming Amanda off of Allison. Billy tries to grab Allison and keep her in line, but she breaks free and runs after Amanda. Allison lunges at Amanda, who is being held by Michael while Billy chases after here. The four of them all fall into the pool.

On the other side of the pool, Sydney has finally managed to get in between Jane and Ricki to break it up for a moment. "Jane, please, get out of here now, you're going to get hurt or maybe even killed." cries Sydney.

"Come on, Sydney" says Ricki. "Just let her go, maybe fighting is the one thing she is good at. Cause she sure as hell can't run a business or find a man that will stay faithful to her."

Sydney turns around to face Ricki and try to get her to leave. Jane makes a running dive and knocks both Sydney and Ricki into the pool and the momentum carries her in as well. The two individual catfights have turned into one giant melee in the apartment complex swimming pool with hair pulling between Amanda and Allison, while Sydney, Ricki and Jane try to drown each other. Amanda's dress is now completely ruined, as is Michael's tux, neither of them seem to care. The whole melee has turned into complete chaos.

Up on the roof, the stalker hears the noise that is going on in the courtyard and is trying to find the pistol and get back to his/her spot.

Jake, Jo, and Matt quickly make their way over to Matt's car. "Comeon, get in, quickly." barks Jake.

Matt hops into the passenger seat and Jo gets in the back. Jake is about to get in when he looks over and spots Detective Wilkins car with blood all over the door. At first he is tempted to just get in and start driving. But Jake has always been one who wants to take care of problems himself. Some call it being a hero, others call it being stupid, but for Jake it's just how he does things.

"Jake, get in. We have to get to the police." says Jo out the car window.

Jake continues to walk over to the car door and looks in the window to find Detective Wilkins dead carcass. He doesn't flinch or hesitate for a second, he opens up the car door and the dead body falls out onto the street. Jo and Matt look on in disbelief. Jake reaches down and puts two fingers on the detectives neck to confirm what he already knew. Jake looks back over at Matt and Jo. They peer at him out the car window like they've seen a ghost.

"Is he dead?" asks Matt.

Jake nods. "He's dead."

Suddenly, Jake begins to hear the noise and commotion that is coming from the courtyard of the apartment complex. With a feeling in the pit of his stomach, he knows that something terrible is about to happen, and driving to the cops would not be able to solve anything.

Jake takes one look at Matt and Jo and ponders whether to leave his two friends there. But hearing the screams and loud noise coming from the courtyard, he knows what he has to do. Without saying a word, Jake takes off sprinting at full blast back into the Melrose Place courtyard.

"Jake, wait don't leave us here." cries Jo.

Matt and Jo begin to unbuckle their seatbelts, in order to go run after Jake.

Up on the roof, the stalker has found the hand pistol and checks to make sure the bullets are still in it.

Jake comes sprinting into the courtyard and sees the total chaos that is happening in the pool. "What the hell?" he shouts out loud. The two separate cat-fights have merged into one as all the wet women are scratching and clawing at one another. The only two guys in the pool are Michael and Billy, who are desperately trying to break everything up and maintain some order.

Forgetting for a moment why he ran back into the complex, Jake spots Ricki who takes a swing at Jane. Jane ducks and she winds up hitting Amanda in the back of the head. This forces Amanda to let go of Allison, as she had been holding Allison's head underneath the water. Sydney who is in the middle of all this looks up at Jake and cries for him to help. Realizing that Sydney had been telling the truth all along about Ricki, Jake quickly takes off his leather jacket and jumps in the pool to try to help Michael and Billy retain order.

Jo and Matt come sprinting back into the building, following Jake. Jo puts on the breaks when she sees everyone in the pool, but Matt plows into her from behind and they both go flying into the pool and land on top of everyone who has all managed to jumble themselves up in one huge melee.

With ten people in the pool now, the stalker has made his/her way back to the lookout spot on the rooftop and cocks the pistol. The stalker points the pistol at the melee but hesitates on firing. Trying to make sense out of the chaos in the pool, the stalker appears to be trying to positively identify his/her target, but with everyone screaming and grabbing at each other this makes it extremely difficult for the stalker to identify anyone.

The stalker moves out of the shadow to try to get a closer look to make people out. As the stalker moves into the light, dressed in all black with a hood to conceal his/her identity, Jake sees something move out of the corner of his eye and looks up and sees the person in black pointing a gun towards the pool. Not sure who the gun is directly aimed at, Jake yells out at the top of his lungs "EVERYBODY! GET DOWN!"

The stalker knows he/she has been spotted and must fire the gun. The index finger pulls the trigger and a loud noise echoes through the courtyard. As a thick cloud of grey pistol smoke comes up from the gun, the one in black, standing on top of the roof gazes down below. The hectic chaos of the last few minutes falls silent. The stalker stands up to see over the smoke and the result of the gunshot. With no revealing identity feature, and no way to read any kind of a facial expression, the stalker just stares down at the pool below as everything turns into slow motion, then everything turns to black as the credits come across the screen signifying the end of the show for that week:

**Author's Note: ****That is the end of part 1. I will be writing the next parts of this series over the next few weeks. I'm not sure how many parts there will be, but I do already know how I'm going to end the story. For those of you who would be kind enough to write a review, I would be curious as to who you think the mysterious stalker is. If you would please mention that in your reviews along with any other comments and suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, and I hope you are enjoying the story so far.**


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